ND 2k1 Runners Logo Revamp

I tried to give some tweaks to the ND 2k1 Runners logo so it would have a more solid look and easier to print in fabric. Basically gave it a more stable border and removed some colors. Hoping to see this eventually become a singlet.

Mechas Gone Wild

I made this for a cg contest waayy back (2005), I compiled lots photos to build this up. the background is in munoz, QC. Pardon the light and shadow mixing, This was 3 years before I had formal education in digital arts.

Diamond Blue

Yesterday, I finished the Ateneo Blue Diamond Race, for my 9th medal of the year (2011 target=12 medals) It now hangs beside my La Salle Greentennial half marathon medal :p

There were a some issues in regards to Hydration, good thing I had my Hydration Belt with me. With sponsors backing out due to the bad weather, there were only a few freebies given. But that is not important since a medal, certificate and those beneficiaries happy would be enough for participating. Besides, why settle from some freebies that you're going to consume for a day, for a week or some stuff that would not fit you anyway? A finisher's medal would still be there reminding you of participating in this good cause and would last for generations.

Best Sports Anime titles

The sports genre of anime has been a joy to watch, quite frankly more than a tonload of western football movies. Here are some great Sports anime opening songs.

Hajime no Ippo


Eyeshield 21


Ikkiman (Battle Ball)


Over Drive


And of course, The best

Cons X Marimeko

Conceptualize and establish by a woman in post-war Finland, Marimekko stands tribute to the bold and adventurous streak of women everywhere. And what better way to show how proud you are of being a woman than wearing a Converse X Marimekko pair of Chucks?

Born in the aftermath of war in 1951, Marimekko opened the stage for designs that revolutionized pattern-making up to this date. Introducing fresh new ideas, bold colors, and appealing patterns, Marimekko played a big part in the rehabilitation of the fashion from the 50s, fashion innovation in the 60s and so on and so forth. Truly a leader with a great creative imagination, Marimekko brings countless of designs to life.

Marimekko’s works of art are no longer limited to clothes and bags, as they teamed up with Converse to bring to your feet, their own passion for fashion! Straight from Marimekko’s considerably large archive, Annika Rimala’s 1965 looped fascination Kirppu is brought to life with an understated air for the abstract on a pair of Converse Chuck Taylor Hi. Lauded as one of the most influential designers in the world in 1967, Annika Rimala’s modern and original designs for Marimekko were featured on the covers of various international fashion magazines since the early 1960s.

A playful take on color and shapes, the mother-daughter team of Maija and Kristina Isola developed Pikkusuomu in 1980 graced the beloved Chuck Taylor in Hi and Ox cut. Prior to collaborating with daughter Kristina, Maija Isola was herself considered an important reformer and forerunner in the industry, having designed over 500 intriguing fabric designs for Marimekko throughout her career, including the Pikkusuomu.

Women of grace, substance and abundance of creativity are the visionaries behind Marimekko – designing for women, loved by women. Grab your own pair of Marimekko Chuck Taylor today and get into the Marimekko spirit for P 3,180 a pair! Don’t forget to check out www.converse.com.ph for other cool Converse styles and look up Converse Philippines on Facebook for daily dose of Converse goodness!

Figure Fridays: McFarlane Sportspicks Ben Wallace

One of the best defenders of the first half of the past decade, Big Ben is the cornerstone of the Post Grant Hill Pistons, leading the team to its third title in 2004. The Undrafted and Undersized center showed the way that hardwork and determination can take you far.

Pacman Statue.

Like the Popular Icon Rocky Balboa, World Pound for pound king Manny Pacquiao has his own bronze statue at the SM MOA Baywalk area. The statue, immortalizes the people's champ with the people or actually 4 other sculptures of modern day overseas Filipino workers which are also the countries' unsung heroes. The statue, entitled "Aray ko, Galing ko" is sponsored by Unilab one of the countries' leading pharmaceutical companies.

I usually train at the baywalk area for my early morning runs and I must say, seeing that statue during my runs is a great morale boost!

ND 2k1 Runners

I made a logo for my new running club, the ND 2k1 Runners. It basically composed of HS batch mates that are also into the sport, lifted from the ND 2k1 ballers group. Since we all seem to participate in the same running events, why not make one.  The guy on the logo is one of our more active members.

Hopefully it will evolve and have our own club singlets produced.

Train Hard, Get Better

 

 Thanks a lot to Accel Sports Philippines for the prizes! It was nice visiting your office last friday and meeting 2010 Asian Games Gold Medalist & 8 ball World Champion Dennis Orcollo. Good luck and More power!
You can also visit their FB page and win prizes thru the link below.

Run United 2 Experience

 

I had a 14 minute Guntime and 9 Minute Chip time 21k PR improvement at Unilab Run United 2. A bit surprising since I didn't have that much practice but Vitamins and rest paid its results.

The National team bandwagon fiesta: The worst in a Filipino Sports Fan

                                                                                                                                                                 The Prototypical Image of a Pinoy Bandwagoner

Pinoys love hype. 

Every time we see something monumental and out of the blue, we turn around and appreciate it for what it's worth, and once they served its purpose, we spit them out like gum.

Late 2010, 2 major events occured in the Philippine sporting world. Our Football team, known as the Azkals, won against a perennial Southeast asian football nation Vietnam at the group stages of the AFF Suzuki Cup., reporters, casual bloggers and other pundits start celebrating and rejoicing after the Azkal's Monumental victory.  The team went on to the semifinals but was no match for Indonesia as they went down 0-2 on aggregate score. 

The Azkals, were crowned as the countries' darling underdogs, With the PFF leadership row in dispute, The team was short in funds, with the Martinez faction being investigated for missing funds, the team claiming not to receive a single centavo from it and instead is being supported by its manager, Dan Palami. The "Surviving on their own" underdog story of the Azkals caused them to earn more love and sympathy from the general public. Even though the Azkals were pwned by the Indonesians, there was a "We're not Prepared, we'll get them next time" feel to them.

On the other hand, Like the prototypical Filipino soap opera, there had to be a villain, and it has to be rich and popular. 

Smart Gilas Pilipinas, The national team representing the country on its most popular and most lucrative sport, Basketball went to compete in the Asian Games, a tournament where it has always ended at the top 4 spot for the last 40 years. Like the azkals, they had problems of their own, Their Naturalized center, Marcus Douthit, did not make the cut in the lineup due to his naturalization papers still being processed. Days before the start of the tournament, Slotman Japeth Aguilar got himself injured and missed the tournament. The Country faced a narrow 2 point loss to Japan which relegated them to an early quarterfinals meeting with powerhouse Korea. The end result was a 6th place finished, tying the Philippines' worst ever finish in the 60s.

Bandwagon fans clearly jumped on football. Sensationalist reporters, wanting to join the hype started to give the team unrealistic notions of being world cup contenders.The Azkals were the darlings of the media especially since they had good looking meztisos to be the banner boys. Endorsements, Merchandise and more donations are now coming its way. While it was great to finally see the football team, setting the public the mentality of raising the bar too high is dangerous for any team.

Add to that, media has to create a controversy. Reporters hurrying to jump on the bandwagon were questioning why Filipinos are still playing basketball, Back then, every time you tune into the nightly news the main anchors are all praises on the azkals and all negativity on basketball. Then flame wars, debates and attacks started happening in message boards, twitter and facebook.

Come 2011 Gilas gained a bit more respect. Placing 2nd in the Dubai tournament, 3rd at the PBA Comissioner's cup, 3rd at the Jones Cup, 4th at the Fiba Asia Champions cup, 1st in Seaba and a narrow 9 point loss against an NBA squad led by Kobe Bryant, Derrick Rose, Kevin Durant and Chris Paul. But even then, It never gained enough media mileage as the Azkals were. 

The Azkals now is being treated as "THE" National team. Upgraded with a more experienced coach, better Filipino-European players in the roster and a ton load of monetary support due to advertisements. Their games are now covered live complete with long commericals and a pregame show that takes nearly as long as the game itself. With everyone's support they started doing good. The team started their 2011 conquest by demolishing mongolia at the panaad stadium. BBC covered it and concluded it to be a turning point where the country finally embracing football as a sport. 

From February to early July, the team had a great run. They were either drawing teams or winning on aggregate. However they were fighting against lesser teams, teams ranked way below them. Teams like Mongolia, Bangladesh, Palestine, Sri Lanka and Myanmar. The fans just went high with especially with the 4-0 demolition of Sri Lanka at the world cup preliminary qualifiers. It felt like the start of Rocky 3 with Balboa off to a win streak before he met Clubber Lang. Having beaten/drawn a lot of weak opponents to give the bandwagoners a false sense of security.

And the Azkal's Clubber lang was the Kuwaiti football team. 

After the Azkals' loss to Kuwait, the bandwagon fans started blaming everything. From coach  Weiss to the players and the endorsements. Those fans dropped the support like a hot potato.

A few weeks after the Azkals lost, The Philippine Dragon boat team started winning gold medals. The Dragon Warriors ended with 5 gold medals. Like the pre-December 2010 Azkals, the Dragon warriors now face problems with their NSA, The PSC and the POC. Bandwagon fans who got disappointed with the Azkals quickly jumped ship to the Dragonboat warriors. While what our paddlers had done was remarkable and splendid at the very least. Bandwagon fans now have to place a villain to compare them to, a villain to make them reek of envy. 

And that villain is the same team they "supported" the past few months, The Azkals.

In Conclusion, It is nice for the sport of football to grow. It would be great if middle class elementary and secondary schools, as well as inter baranggays would take a look at a secondary or tertiary team sport to hold a tournament such as Futsal or Rowing. It would help the youth lacking in height or basketball skills still enjoy sport. But bashing one team after the other simply isn't the way to do it.

Accel's 10th Anniversary Sale

ACCEL 10th year anniversary sale up to 50% OFF nationwide. Hurry up!Visit your favarite Dept. Store, Olympic Village, Tobys and CHrist Sports. Buy ACCEL products and save more!

Up to Sept 30, 2011

Figure Fridays: Revoltech Pocco

One of the early Revoltech Fraulien figures, Pocco was one of the main designs of Shunya Yamashita's artbook sweet dreams. The artbook catered around post apocalyptic designs. The main cover artwork is a character named Pocco.

WWE Events in Manila

1994: WWF Manila Mania
Location: Cuneta Astrodome (Thursday), Araneta Coliseum ( Friday)
Stars: Bret Hart, Undertaker, Yokozuna, Owen Hart, Hacksaw Jim Duggan,  The Bushwackers Etc...

Side Notes:
A few months before the actual date, the Bushwackers doing guestings on the PBA and Inday Badiday's Eye to Eye. The Sabotaged the set and did a stage fight with Anjo Yllana.
 
The Wrestlers from "Pinoy Wrestling" (Joe Pogi, Smokey Mtn Boys etc) Had an in ring participation. It is kind of nostalgic back then since it was at least 3-4 years since Pinoy wrestling went off the air.  


Bret Hart was the biggest draw of this card and was very appreciative of the Filipino fans. However, according to his book, My Life in the Cartoon world of wrestling, he had a bad experience sightseeing in the streets of Malate/Roxas Blvd. From the Kalesa ride of a horse nearly passing out to people peeing on the streets and pimps offering him underaged kids. 


When Undertaker faced the late Yokozuna, They started off the match by a staredown, however the crowd started chanting "Kiss!, Kiss" This incident will repeat 12 years later with Triple H and Ric Flair.





1995: WWF Mayhem in Manila
Location: Araneta Coliseum, Cebu City Coliseum
Stars: Shawn Michaels, Lex Luger, Doink, Duke, Adam Bomb, Undertaker, Bam Bam Biggelow, Smoking Guns, Yokozuna, the Godwins, Mabel/ MoM, Man O War.

Side Notes: 
Shawn Michaels Endorsing Colt 45 which was the main sponsor back then.

This was the first and only time the WWF/WWE perofmed at Cebu
The event in Cubao held on for 3 nights but was not as successful due to the stormy weather and the absence of Bret Hart.  



2006: Raw Live Tour
Location Araneta Coliseum
Stars: John Cena, HHH, Big Show, Edge, Ric Flair, RVD, Snitsky, Tomko, Trish Stratus, Viscera, Val Venis,  Mick Foley, Shelton Benjamin, Lita and Torrie Wilson

Side Note: 
 
This was the first time WWE was back in over a decade. Mick foley did promotional tour which guested in Wowowee, S files and Mall tours in Megamall and Gateway.

Their arrival marred by an idiot pinoy journalist disobeying the rules and still being arrogant when tried to be reprimanded by the bodyguards. The sensationalist tabloid reporter/ liar even had the audacity to petition to blacklist Foley even though he was at fault. 


This was also the first time that fireworks and a steel cage match was brought in the card.

Gloria announced a state of rebellion which even shown during the event date. It was even shown at WWE.com that the superstars have been inside a politcal turmoil. 





-HHH Front page of Phil Star
-Eugene Wearing Team Pacquiao Jacket
-Carlito Calls Filipina Women "Manny Pacquiaos with long Hair"
-Foley shouts Out Mahal kita to her sponsored child

2006: Smackdown Survivor Series Tour
Location: Araneta Coliseum
Stars: Batista, Undertaker, King Booker, Lashley, Benoit, Finlay, Brian Kendrick, Paul London, Vito, Chavo Guerrero, Shane Helms, Matt Hardy, Jummy Wang Yang, The Miz

Side Notes:
 
Batista did a pre promotion and was treated as a national hero.
 
Security was a bit loose on this event. The wrestlers actually moved around the metro for 2-3 days.  You can see Hardy and Helms loitering around the foodcourt of Robisons Galleria, Mr. Kennedy on a Mr. Softee Ice Cream Stand, Booker T playing golf at southwoods and The Miz buying bananas at farmers market.

Mr. Kennedy's Immortal Quote "Tahimik! Tahimik! Tigil! Tigil! Tahimik!" This was epic and turned some pops within the crowd for him despite being a heel. The night before, he garnered major heat by stating Eric Morales will beat Manny Pacquiao.

2009 Smackdown/ECW Tour
Location: Araneta Colliseum
Stars: Jeff Hardy, CM Punk, Chris Jericho, Tommy Dreamer, Great Khali, Gail Kim, Maria Kanellis, Mark Henry, Dolph Zigler, Christian

Side Notes:
 
Christian and Evan Bourne made guest appearances in eat bulaga.
 
Evan Bourne donning a "Greenhills Exclusive" Dondon Hontiveros Team Pilipinas 2007 Jersey.
 
Batista did pre-promotion of the event but was not at the event itself. They had a promotional tour months before the event known as "The Animal in Manila2" where he visited malls and other landmarks in the country like Fort Santiago.


Edge was supposed to be part of the card but was injured.

Review: Accel DLSU Muscle Shirt

 

I came across these Jerseys when looking over sports shops in the metro. Aparrently, Accel got a license to make store released alternative jerseys for some collegiate squads. While these aren't the official game jerseys, the graphic laden designs caught my attention. They seem to be like those alternative fashion jerseys which the NBA releases of that aren't game issued.

So now we take a look at one of those collegiate Jerseys (or muscle shirt as the tag suggests).

Laban Pilipinas

Congrats to Gilas for placing 3rd in the Jones cup and Sinag for winning the Seaba youth title.

Review: Converse Sicks

Debuting at the 2010 World Basketball festival, The Sicks is Converse's 2010-11 entry to the performance line of basketball sneakers after the Weapon Evo last 2009-10 season. The past season, Cons ballers alternated between this and the other performance shoe, the Converse Star player evo.

Xploderz kampfer

What happens when a toy company uses another registered character from another company/ series

Ballers 2k1 Jersey

I've been joining saturday evening basketball games in Katipunan as part of the cybph ballers, however the venue/ games are coincidentally shared with my alumni basketball group. As players from my collector's group started to be less punctual in the games, it turned into more of a high school tuneup event. The guys do have their game jerseys from a few years ago but as the group started to grow, we broached the idea of making new reversible jerseys for everyone. Due to my contacts, I initiated the move to design and source out our new game jerseys and after all the effort, batch 1 is now underway.

Though I admit, I'm still not proud of my Elementary/HS heritage, but nothing beats a good old green/black jersey design. I also would've preferred the earlier design I did due for sublimation printing, but we'll do that the next time around.

Great things start from small beginnings

Last July 31, I experienced my first stormy race. It was during the 35th national milo marathon. Due to road blockage to the venue, I got late by 10 minutes from the guntime (10k), but that didn't stop me from running the race and catching up around 500 or more runners. In the end I was lucky to make the cutoff even with the late start.

As a sneakerhead myself, I'm glad those kids would get their fresh white/green Milo kicks and put them to good use.