Travel: Tokyo

Photoblog from my Japan tour back in March of 2008


Akihabara, is a paradise for every geek. From insanely cheap anime merchandise to electronics and maid cafes.


From a Ramen Shop
More Photos After the Jump




Kusonogi Masashige's statue stands near the tokyo Imperial Palace


Inside tokyo tower you can see what's underneath way below.


An Old street sweeper rests near Akatsuka Kannon Temple.



Marshalls outside the train stations are very polite

mio x raphael

Please watch and vote for my friend's entry for the cosplay mania contest:



vote for by texting: COSPLAYVIDEO4 and send it to 2345 for Globe or Sun Subscribers and 2987 for Smart and Talk n' Text Subscribers. Thank you! Please spread the news!

Remembering Ninoy

26 years ago, a senator became a hero by returning to his homeland. The dictator thought his death will silence the crowd but nonetheless sparked a revolution which led to the latter's ousting.

Cannon 50mm f 1.18 get

Weeks Back I finally got my first Prime Lens, Yes it is the cheapest one. the 50mm f 1.18 by Cannon.






I was planning to buy this way back since I won cosplay and toy photog contests in the last toy convention. I wanted to improve and not be complacent. A Photographer friend of mine suggested that I invest on prime lenses and start on the 50mm f1.18. 3 days after the convention, I went to the states. As my brother bought a camera, he brought home a brochure. One of the more cheaper stores in the States, BnH. In there the lens sold for 89$ + Tax (around 4,500-5,000 php) which is cheaper since most stores there sell it for 180 US$. To not splurge my pocket money, I decided to buy it on our last day in NY. Unfortunately, It was a saturday and the store, being run by jewish, is closed.



Back in the Philippines, I searched on how much it cost here. A site showed that in a store makati, it costs 4,300 which was already Cheaper. Finally, A trip to Hidalgo finally openned my eyes and made me realize how much a blessing in disguise this was and got it for 4,000 php. (Before, I was a bit weary of the safety of the place. But after seeing it, it wasnt that dangerous.)



So as a trial practice shot:



So Far so Good. Hoping to get the hang of this.

Final Thoughts on Fiba Asia

Western powers once again proves they're the team to beat. At first I thought china was still to reign supreme because they still have a good intact team with a lot of experiences. But then I was wrong. Iran, not only beating china but crushing them in front of their home crowd. I can say is just wow. No Mid ranking Asian team got beat that bad by Iran. Not Korea, Not Jordan, Not Taipei, Not even Powerade Pilipinas. China also had down to the wire games against Lebanon and Jordan.

And so ends the 19 year odyssey of PBA backed national teams. It is now up to the new batch of soldiers that will represent the 3 stars and a sun. Frankly speaking, I'm more optimistic this time around with Smart Gilas. The team has been practicing longer than the all pro squad and they're still 2 years ahead. They also have a naturalized player and a coach who was the brainchild of the team that just demolished China. Yes, Matic may be the coach, but Toroman was the "Red Auerbach" of that Iran team.

Gilas Is a good program, Do not destroy it Help It. Hopefully the PBA board gives in to help them by reinforcing them with the 3 players from the powerade team. This will help the league as well, since they can have a solid participation with the national team while not having major loses.

Flames

Came across this cool site by close up which allows you to play flames.

Pilipinas gives taiwan a dose of a deadly 3 point barrage

Powerade Pilipinas Beats the hell out of taiwan 77-70 Thanks to a barrage of 3 Pointers from the past 3 MVPs James Yap, Willie Miller and Jayjay Helterbrand. Taiwan led in the opening moments of the game. James had a game high 23 points Miller with 17 and Helterbrand with 8. For a team which was usually struggling with 3 pointers, has been an exceptional with 15/30 from beyond the arc (50%) which was even better than their field goal percentage which was12/35 (34.3). Not only did they shoot well from beyond the arc, they gave taipei a woeful 1/15 shooting from the field.

Taipei kept the game close through the efforts of their long haired player but The Thriller Miller sank a dagger 3 through the faces of taiwan as well as the watching china squad.

Tomorrow they take on the defending champions in Iran. Hoping for a good shooting rhytym like this one and we have a fighting chance.

Team Pilipinas' Newest Recruit

Powerade Team Pilipinas, Hurting but still fighting in the midst of the Fiba Asia wars

(Pic from someone who posted it in the interbasket forums, credits to the original owner)

Ok, Normally as a Celtic fan, I'd hate on this guy. But I appreciate this show of class and gesture.


Now as for the Commish wearing the RP Jacket, You know you did a half cooked job. We were given the breaks and Lack of training and fatigue really put us down. You could've pulled them out for the final conference since it was going to be the last tour of duty anyway. I hope you learned your lesson and support smart gilas all the way.

Team Pilipinas Takes On Taipei in Group E

Powerade Team Pilipinas, Pulled out a great defensive game against the koreans last Saturday, limiting them with 18% shooting from the arc. Ha did have a bad game and not even his Jun Pyo esque hairdo was of any help against taulava and penissi. but RP went ice cold on offense as they missed a lot of open threes. Cyrus Baguio did a lot of acrobatic shots that kept the koreans worried but everytime the pinoys make a run, the boys over flowers squad just kept coming back.We finised a 2-1 record and currently on 3rd in group e (Merged Group A & B).



Our next game is against Chinese Taipei. No, they dont have hot shots or MVP valentine in their lineup. The winner of the match gets to face either Jordan or Lebanon in the quarter finals rather than Yi and China. Good news for RP is that Japeth will be back and 100& from the injury he sustained while dunking against sri lanka. Also, a 1 day rest would be beneficial to these guys especially the emotionally exhausted big game James and our injured furious mvp. We still need prayers.


I also hope they wont be confused with the enemy as both RP and Taiwan has the same Uniform design and colors.

RP Beats Japan by 9

(Photo from FIBA Asia Website)


Great win for Powerade Team Pilipinas! Down by 11 yet went to a run in the 3rd quarter to seal the deal against Japan.

These 2 teams have been consistently at each other's throats since the 1994 asiad when The captain Alvin Patrimonio failed to connect in the winning basket. The captain, with the centennials got revenge on the Nihon-jins via an overtime game. The 2002 Asiad, 2007 and 2009 Jones Cup featured the 2 teams coming back in late game runs to win the game by a small margin.

Asi Taulava found the fountain of youth for the RP team, debuting in their new red (alternate?)Jerseys. Same with Sonny Thoss, who made led the team in scoring. Interesting though, Orimo did not enter the game. From our side, Japeth Aguilar didnt even play a single minute. Hopefully he'll be well rested and 100% for tomorrow as they take on Ha and the boys over flowers squad of south korea.

Air Jordan DMP Pack 60+ Bulls vs. Celtics Get

I finally acquired my DMP AJ 60+



I was one of the lucky ones to acquire the final pieces of the Air Jordan DMP Pack, it was one of those days where a high demand yet regular release Item was released. Though there were no needs for camp outs in taguig like the other limited edition shoes, I passed on the first time I saw this when my GF asked me if she’d get the set (To be paid by me later) since I had a contact to split the set with another sneakerhead (Just the Celtics colorway). But when the seller back out, I had no choice but to scout the other areas if the shoe was indeed still on sale. I was lucky to get the set in Nike trinoma, however, I had to wait till afternoon to get it because to know if the guy who reserved it would back out.





The DMP series exemplifies His Airness’ Greatest 60+ Point Games. What better way to start the series than to do one of his record breaking Scoring games, the 63 point performance on the first round of the 1986 playoffs against the Celtics. The bulls, only carrying the eight seed because of MJ’s injury costing him being on the bench for most of the season. Being on the 8th seed, they were faced to task team green on the first round.



Though the Celtics Prevailed 135-131 en route to their 16th championship and the last one until the KG-Truth-Shuttlesworth era, the Game provided a monumental era in NBA history as this was the highest single person scoring output in a playoff game.



The Pack Contains the air Jordan 1 in 2 colorways, Celtic Green and Bulls Red. Both of the colors are monumental.



The red Being the epitome of Air Jordan, banned in the NBA because of Extreme colorways. However, that extreme colorway led the way for a monumental shoe, being adored generations after and causing empty wallets in sneaker heads everywhere.



The Green colorway is fresh, and is a must have for a Celtics fan (Like me). It would also be noted that one of the big 3 (or 4) is a part of team Jordan, Ray Allen.


The shoe has a tag inside the tounge to comemorate the date MJ scored 63 points and the date whn it happened.



The Box is well done as well, commemorating the legendary Celtic's Parquet Floor. Nowadays with all the ugly monochrome hardwood being the trend in NBA Flooring (T-Wolves, Suns, Pacers etc..) Nothing beats the original and the classic parquet floor.



Another Feature of the shoe is its interchangeable laces. The red colorway has an option to make the laces either black or red. The Celtics colorway has the option to use black or green laces (although I saw from an online forum that it should have included a pair of white laces).



Score: Overall a 9.5/10

RIP Cory Aquino

Corazon C. Aquino, 11th President of the Philippines and Icon of democracy Passed away August 1, 2009 at 3 am manila time.

From the Bottom of our hearts, Thank you! and R.I.P.