Trick/Treat/Trip

TRICK: Your blog author the cat at her office's Halloween party.



That set of kitty ears has got to be, bar none, THE best costume item I've ever picked up. Got it at a con some time ago, and it's still going strong. I keep wearing it despite the attractions (*shrug*) of tiny little beribboned top hats and bonnets.

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TREAT: Atlantica Online celebrates one year since commercial launch!



Read all about the treats, tricks, and shenanigans all November long - HERE.

Damnit, though, I missed the birthday giveaway thinger. The Internet connection was spotty and blechly earlier this morning.

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TRIP: As if the pressure of joining National Novel Writing Month for the first time wasn't enough....



That, by the way, is the current working summary and plot of the novel I intend to write beginning tomorrow, November 1.

The "trip" comes from the part where I'm thinking about blogging the NaNo experience. (AFTER I clock my daily 1667+ words, of course.) I figure I'm in a neat position for the tale-telling - I'll be living part of my dream and I have a blog where I can tell about living the dream. I guess I'll try to put a NaNo-type entry every week or so.

***

And so to enjoy the last day before the dream begins! (I REALLY hope it doesn't turn into a nightmare! Wish me luck!)

The soundtrack to my life

[Note 1: This post was inspired by this blog entry - thanks, Jayvee!]

[Note 2: How do you like the new background? I made it myself. :)]

After a quick look at the "Archives" over on the right sidebar, I guess I should feel happy with myself. I had a rather slow start on this blog since I was trying to find an optimum posting schedule; now it definitely feels like I've settled in. :) That's good for a smile right there.

Anyway. Today I want to show you what sort of music I listen to. It's a long playlist, currently more than 150 songs strong, and I'm always on the lookout for new tracks to add. This is the playlist that accompanies me at home and at work - and I play selected tracks from it when I'm traveling, too.



Okay, let me just point out a few highlights:

1. The most obvious one, of course, is the weird mash-up of sources and artists. The Beatles and U2 and The Who, cheek by jowl with Utada Hikaru and a mishmash of J-pop artists, and then quirky musicians like Sondre Lerche and Jonathan Coulton. No one will know who Sumire Haruno is other than my fellow Takarazuka fans; everyone knows who the Wonder Girls are. And you can't even see the TOP of the playlist, where some of my favorite instrumentals from various movies are located.

2. I really DO have four versions of "Passion", the theme from Kingdom Hearts 2, on the playlist. (I have three versions of "Hikari", too.) Normally I don't listen to the similar tracks one after the other; I keep the playlist on permanent shuffle-mode.

3. Which tracks get played the most? "My Hands are Shaking" (Sondre Lerche); "Nobody" (Wonder Girls); "Space Doggity" and "Still Alive" (Jonathan Coulton). And that's just the part of the playlist that's in the screenshot.

4. Sharp eyes will have noticed the Windows Media Player interface in this screenshot and figured out that I'm using Windows 7. Yeah, Vista is dead and deservedly buried - long live Win7! ...I should do a review.

5. Yes, I will still be listening to this playlist, with additions here and there, as I join National Novel Writing Month for the very first time. See that "30 days, 50k words, you do the math" sidebar over there? That is EXACTLY what I signed up for. We'll all find out together if I make it or not.

So tell me what YOU listen to: describe your current playlist, or gush about a favorite/oft-played artist, or hell, put together a dream playlist! Now that you know about the soundtrack of my life, I'd love to hear about yours.

Meal in the City: A Japanese Lunch at Sushi-Ya, SM Megamall

Con-going can be a hungry business!

After making the rounds of the booths at the recently concluded Komikon 2009, my partner and I decided to take advantage of an opportunity to eat a good old-fashioned donburi or two. We like eating at the various Sushi-Ya branches because they usually can be counted on to serve decent Japanese food. Plus I love the cold mugicha they pour out for a service drink (i.e. it's free of charge).

Here's what we had that Sunday.


Appetizer: a small serving of maguro (lean tuna) sashimi. We wish that the slices would be bigger, but well, recession and all. Good eating anyway. We dose it with a little calamansi (sort of a cross between a tangerine and a kumquat) before dipping in wasabi and soy sauce.


Oops, it's a little blurry. My partner's rice bowl, with unagi (grilled eel with sauce) on top. I'm not quite a fan of the stuff...but my motto in life is "try anything once". I had a bite out of his meal - it was okay, though there were still a few bones it it, yikes.


That's a hefty serving of agedashi tofu up front, with a nice heap of dashi flakes and a sweet-savory sauce. In the background, my customary katsudon. Sushi-Ya tops their version off with shredded quick-fired nori bits. This was a good katsudon and it paired well with the tofu; the meat still had a little fat so it was juicy and tasty, and then it harmonized with the nice earthy/metallic aftertaste that the tofu had (probably from the water it was stored in).

I seem to be craving for some food, so I think I'll go and see what I can do about a mid-morning snack. Being at the office on a Monday morning, with a persistent and annoying cold, really takes it out of you.

What's YOUR favorite thing to eat at a Japanese restaurant?

Stopping traffic Changshan style

...That's just how I roll, haha.

I got REALLY lucky last Friday (the day before the dreaded patching >.< bleah). Someone in my nation was looking to trade hir Changshan outfit for a Jiangshi one.

I happened to have one and I was looking to trade too.

So off I toddled to that player's location (se was in hir guild town) and hit the trade button, and below are the results.


Who says redheads CAN'T wear red? *evilgrin*


One hot axer coming right up....

Okay, next problem is earning the money for the matching hat. But then again, I'm guessing people will be preferring to hold on to their spare costumes and headgear for now, what with the new features added to the game and all, including the Clothes Book.

Postscript to a Postscript: A story in pictures.

Related posts below. Please read them all, in particular Darrick's account of how he decided to enter his "GE.Nobody" machinima in the 1st Cinemanila Machinima Film Festival. He's the person most affected in this matter, and it's his story that needs to be told.

PJ Punla - Postscript to GE.Nobody and the Cinemanila Machinima Festival

Darrick Regondola - My Fantazzztic and Not so Fantazzztic Cinemanila Machinima Experience…

Chad Ramos - What Happened?: The Experience on Cinemanila Machinima Festival

Joel Tan - Cinemanila Machinima Film Fest Aftermath

***

Evidence: you've got to have it in discussions. Here are a few screenshots that might serve to illuminate the things being said in the blog posts listed above, including mine.

One question that needs answering first, though: Why am I harping on about the subject? Well, it's true that part of it has to do with Darrick being a friend. But mostly I think that the story being presented needs to be told.

I can't tell the story, though, if I don't have all the sides or angles. So right here and now, let me state for the record: I would like to invite e-Games to air their side regarding the Best E-Games Machinima Award that was supposed to have been given out at the 1st Cinemanila Machinima Film Festival. This story cannot be completed without hearing their side.

Notes on the screenshots:
- Important pieces of information are marked with red rectangular outlines.
- The white lines running across the width of some of the screenshots were the result of stitching them together in MS Paint and/or Adobe Photoshop.
- Besides the two foregoing items, no alterations were made to the pictures.
- All screenshots were made on 21 October 2009.
- Please click the screenshots to see them in a larger size.

Screenshot number 1:

The front page of the 1st Cinemanila Machinima Film Festival website, with the e-Games logo marked out in red.

Screenshot number 2:

The Rules and Mechanics page of the 1st Cinemanila Machinima Film Festival website, with the relevant texts and the e-Games logo marked out in red. Note that the rules do not include a clause where Cinemanila or e-Games reserve the right to NOT award a category for whatever reason they may deem fit.

Screenshot number 3:

The e-Games website, which still has the 1st Cinemanila Machinima Film Festival promotional material filed under "Other Updates".

Screenshot number 4:

The content of the 1st Cinemanila Machinima Film Festival promotional article. Note the money amount in the headline, repeated in the first red-marked block of text. As with the screenshot of the Rules and Mechanics above, there is no clause in the rules that allows for the non-awarding of the prizes.

There are screenshots and pictures, and then there are statements. I can't make a final statement on this matter, however, without getting word from all parties involved. I've posted statements from Cinemanila and from Darrick; now I'm looking for an official statement from e-Games to complete the story. Again: I would like to invite e-Games to air their side on this matter.

Postscript to GE.Nobody and the Cinemanila Machinima Festival

Previous/related posts:
Pop Chart: Wonder Girls and Nobody, Robots and Granado Espada
Pop Chart: Granado Espada Does the Wonder Girls!
"GE.Nobody" Hits Cinemanila Machinima?!


Quick pic of the guest of honor at the screenings of the short films and music videos entered in the first Cinemanila Machinima Film Festival: yep, none other than critically acclaimed Philippine film director Tikoy Aguiluz.

In a brief speech, he said that next year they'd really go ahead and promote machinima as an integral new part of the Cinemanila Film Festival. Hopefully this means the beginning of machinima as a viable genre and art form in the local culture scene.

So I've just come back from the awards night of the first Cinemanila Machinima Film Festival, held at the Fully Booked at Bonifacio High Street.

And after all the build-up, promotion, and what-not directed towards Darrick Regondola and his machinima mash-up of the Wonder Girls, "Nobody", and Granado Espada, it is my duty to report that he did not win any awards.

The night's honors went to "Shelf Life - Chapter One", "Shrink Wrapped", "Worship the Will", and "Wish For You". Incidentally, the two latter entries (both music videos) were made by Filipinos, and the directors were on hand to receive their awards.

Now, you might remember that there was supposed to be a sponsor award. On September 30, IP e-Games announced that it was going to sponsor a special award at this machinima film fest, with the stipulation that the machinima to be so honored had to be made from among the game titles that they were locally distributing. No such award was given out at the ceremony, however.

Here's apparently what happened: e-Games dropped the sponsorship like a hot potato. The folks at the film festival claimed that after receiving word that e-Games was going to do the sponsor thing, they went ahead with the paperwork for the award: Cinemanila put together a memorandum of agreement, put the e-Games logo on the website (it's still there as of the writing of this article), etc. etc. But the MOA was not returned, and there were apparently no further communications from e-Games.

Basically, as of 12 October (when the voting period for the entries began), the award had been withdrawn. No announcements were made regarding the withdrawal.

So much for that sponsorship and for that award.

Anyway, yay for Filipino makers and directors of machinima - may more people come to know of this exciting new art form locally, and may there be many more Pinoy machinima films to come.

After-Action Report: Philippine Komikon (October 2009)

I had a brief Sunday interlude out in the city yesterday, out to see the local comics industry gather and have a good time at the Philippine Komikon. Yeah, it's nothing like the Comic-Con or Comiket, but we've got a long and proud tradition of comics storytelling.

Whilce Portacio? Leinil Francis Yu? Alfredo P. Alcala? Fernando V. Coching? Gerry Alanguilan? Yeah, they're all Filipino and they're all stars of the comics firmament.


Here's Mr. Alanguilan. He's autographing my copy of the graphic novel of his comics story, ELMER. It's a story about chickens who attain sentience/consciousness, and of the changes that result.


And here's the cover of ELMER. Originally published as a series of digest-sized comics, the story can now be purchased in a complete novel edition. Man, I love this story; I'll have to do a proper review of it soon.


Artists' Alley: indie and underground comics galore.


I DESPERATELY wanted to buy this beautiful hardbound copy of Alan Moore's creepfest Jack the Ripper yarn, From Hell - but I really didn't have enough money for it. Damn. It's a freaking great read, never mind that you might have nightmares for a few nights after finishing it. (I know I did.) And do have the patience to go through the pages and pages of notes at the end because they add so much to the EEEK factor. (Hint: Alan Moore has a creepy-as-fuck imagination, but what happens out in the real world turns the creepy dial up to eleven.)


Yay for carrying my loot home in a reusable cloth shopping bag. I'm trying to do my part for the environment.

Up next: a review of ELMER, and pictures of lunch from Komikon.

Did you guys go to Komikon? How was it for you? What did you buy?

Gelato Cakes!

Yeah, I seem to always be posting about cake, ice cream, and combinations thereof. It's my sweet tooth talking, really.

However, with all the bad weather and attendant plunging temperatures in the city right now, I haven't quite been in the mood for cold desserts lately. Still, desserts often have an inherent tendency to look BLOODY GORGEOUS. And the thing I'm featuring here is no exception.

A really great Italian food place called Amici opened an outlet near my office last year, and I had the honor of writing one of the first reviews of that location's food. As time has passed, Amici (Italian for "friends") has steadily become more popular in the local food scene, opening more branches and serving an ever-expanding menu.

Already famous for its take on gelato (the Italian version of ice cream, made without eggs), Amici recently took its frozen desserts one step further by spinning them off into their own brand: Cara Mia Gelateria. Aside from adding new flavors every so often, Cara Mia (roughly, Italian for "my beloved") has also branched out into other gelato delights.


Check 'em out. Gelato cakes! Dense, deeply flavorful, wonderful gelato smoothed into layers over crumb crusts, and topped with all sorts of gorgeous things.

And, in the case of the Choco Tartufo (the dome-thing next to the "Gelato Cakes" sign), COVERED in chocolate cake AND a smooth dome of chocolate itself! It's enough to make any dessert lover go starry-eyed!

Being a massive fan of Cara Mia's gelato flavors (my current absolute favorite is the new Tiramisu flavor), I will definitely have to look for an excuse to eat a slice of these luscious beauties. I've particularly got my eye on the Spumoni Surprise (extreme left in the picture) and the Choco Sans Rival (extreme right in the picture). As soon as the weather warms up, hee hee hee......

"GE.Nobody" Hits Cinemanila Machinima?!

I'm reposting the video to the blog for a good cause. You see, Darrick Regondola, the guy behind the Granado Espada version of the Wonder Girls' "Nobody", put the clip up for competition at no less prestigious an event as the Cinemanila International Film Festival.



You've enjoyed the video, you've marveled at the way he makes static MMORPG female characters dance - now vote for him to win!

Head right on over to THIS LINK to vote. You'll be asked to register, then you can vote for "GE.Nobody" to win. You have until October 16 to vote in!

Please help him win!!!

Meal in the City: Oatmeal with Cheese at Home

Some people who cook have been hanging out in the kitchen for a long time - they helped out their parents with tossing salads, or learned how to make cookies under some elder's guidance, or just plain preferred to be in the vicinity of the stove or the oven while good smells wafted around them.

I'm not one of them. The truth is that I didn't really become interested in finding out what I was eating - and, in turn, the processes of making food - until I moved out of the family home. My partner has always been creative in the kitchen, so I adopted his interest after seeing that he got so much out of it.

I may still have much to learn in the kitchen and about food, but I'm not exactly kitchen-dumb. I can make quite a variety of breakfasts. And I have a particular talent for making oatmeal.

Now, you might scoff and say, "Oatmeal is INSTANT, there's no skill involved in boiling water~!" Sure, but there IS skill involved in letting the oats cook to the desired doneness. Yes, there are donenesses involved: for example, my partner likes his oatmeal slightly clumpy, while I prefer mine more smooth.

And there is skill involved in putting in flavorings: some people prefer their oats with honey, or sugar; some like 'em savory, so it becomes like congee.



Me, I like my oatmeal with a good slug of condensed milk. And for a sharp contrast in flavors, I always tip in some cheese, cut into small cubes.

Yes, I know, it's not exactly food porn. But right there in that mug is a nourishing meal that's more than good for you. Lots of fiber and a healthy dose of calcium. And the best thing about oatmeal is that it's good whether it's freshly-made or it's lukewarm. At least, that's the way I like mine. I could eat this at any time of the day - and indeed, when I took this picture, it was a dinner that spelled out C-O-M-F-O-R-T.

In Atlantica Online, Dungeon Crawls You!

Wikipedia weighs in on the dungeon crawl:

A general style of adventure or scenario in fantasy-type RPGs, where heroes navigate a labyrinthine environment, battling various monsters and looting any treasure. Ther term is also used to refer to a specific title where the only thing to do is essentially go through a dungeon repeatedly in order to collect specific items or loot drops, with at least one boss battle involved.

The style has been carried over into the MMORPG business, and many titles involve this type of adventuring, usually in the form of a quest line. Some titles may refer to dungeon crawls as "raids".

In Atlantica Online, there are a few types of dungeon to crawl through. "General" dungeons are the ones you need to go through to complete storyline-related quests, usually because an NPC requires that the boss be killed and/or drop a specific item in order to complete the objectives.

"Shadow" dungeons are specialized versions of the general ones. They feature mainly in mercenary recruitment quests. Shadow monsters are tougher/stronger versions of their general counterparts, and usually join battles i.e. main+mercs vs. three teams of enemy mobs.

"Upgrade" dungeons allow a player to receive specific all-around boosts as quest rewards, such as rings that boost all stats, allow a player to access new skills, etc.

"Guild" and "Nation" dungeons are, as you might guess from the title, for very large assemblies of players, with substantial boosts in rewards such as EXP and exclusive item drops.

"Miscellaneous" dungeons are those areas where other things happen: fishing, waiting on Free League matches, special events, etc.

One very popular category of dungeons, though, is the "Individual" dungeon, which becomes available to players from level 90 and onward. So-called because it can be run SOLO if you have very good equipment and a lot of scrolls, players prefer to do these crawls in the standard party of three formations.

Individual dungeons normally feature a map shaped like a ring: there's a starting point, there are two paths leading away from the starting point, and the paths converge in the area where the dungeon boss spawns. The party must clear ALL the mobs in order to get the final rewards.

I'd been chickening out on the concept of doing an individual dungeon because I thought I had crap gear - but after recently trying one out for the first time, I think I'm hooked, haha! Together with a friend and her guild officer, I did the raid for the level 90 individual dungeon, the Forbidden Abyss.


Meet the boss of the Forbidden Abyss, the Dead Sea King. Yeah, he's massive. My team is the one nearest foreground.

With two of us taking one side and the third running the other, we cleared the mobs, then took out the boss, leaving us with 27 minutes to spare out of the one hour time limit. Yes, we got the final rewards.

There's a lot of money and good items coming out of individual dungeons so it's no surprise that they're awfully popular. I've got to do another one of those real soon.

One Year in Atlantica Online

On October 7, 2008, I decided to take the plunge into the world of Atlantica Online, the instance-reliant, turn-based strategic/tactical MMORPG from nDOORS. The game turned out to be my eyes-wide-open, no-road-map, jump-in-at-the-deep-end introduction to the entire genre of turn-based tactics games, and continues to be a wild ride and a lot of fun for me.

A few months back, the game implemented a special "birthday" mechanic. The in-game system marks the real-time date of birth of a character created on any of the servers, then gives away a special Birthday Gift Box every time that birthday is reached.

I began life in Atlantica Online with a swordswoman named Takako. She was my very first main. She was the unlucky character who suffered all the faults of the above-mentioned I-have-no-idea-what-I'm-doing approach: cracked-out build, lack of money, misuse of stamina and inability to follow quest lines, etc. etc.

Having moved on to a female axe main, Takako helps out with storing other items and - more importantly - generating money for the axe main.

From PJ Goes Pop!

Meet Takako. Top row, first image: Takako in action stance at the character select screen; the redhead character behind her is my current main. Top row, second image: the in-game message board that says "Happy Birthday, Takako!" Bottom image: Takako meets the Birthday Acong - sort of a mascot for Atlantica Online, which in this version gives away birthday gifts to characters.

The birthday gift box, when opened, gives out a random cake item, which when consumed can have any number of good effects. The birthday gift also includes enough EXP for each character in the formation to advance another level.

The next character looking forward to the birthday gifts is my axe main, created in January-ish of this year. I hope I can get her to benefit from the EXP bonus by the time that comes around.

I'm happy to have spent one year in Atlantica Online, and I hope to continue playing for a long time yet. (And I'm very interested in the upcoming Power Saw mercenary, called the Punisher, so I'm definitely sticking around long enough to at least TRY to get him!)

Maybe Baby Back to Normal

[So long as the storms dissipate properly and don't come back with their rains and winds, anyway.]

[So let's put on a clonetrooper to help guard this post. Picture was taken at Cosplay Mania 2009.]

NEWS UPDATES
October, apparently, is con season here in the Philippines. Hope you've all got your weekends planned out. Events this month include:

COLLECTICON 2009
October 10-11
Robinsons Midtown Mall Atrium
Ermita, Manila

ANICON 2009
October 11 CONFIRMED: Postponed to a later date; please wait for further announcements.
SM Megamall Megatrade Hall 3
Ortigas, Mandaluyong City

THE FIRST PHILIPPINE CARTOONS, COMICS, AND ANIMATION FESTIVAL
October 15-18
SM Megamall Atrium, Art Galleries, PowerBooks
Ortigas, Mandaluyong City

FIFTH ANNUAL KOMIKON
October 18
SM Megamall Megatrade Hall
Ortigas, Mandaluyong City

MEGA MASQUERADE (Cosplay.ph)
October 31
SM Megamall Megatrade Hall 2
Ortigas, Mandaluyong City

I will update this as more events come on board.

Out in the Real World

It's October now, and were this an ordinary week, people would now be getting ready for a hectic con schedule. AniCon 2009 is still slated for the 11th, the PICCA events are still pushing through, and Komik Kon 2009 is still going to take place on the 18th.

But we've still got the aftermath of Typhoon Ondoy (international name Ketsana) to work through, and as of this morning, we've also got Typhoon Pepeng (international name Parma) to deal with. Pepeng is getting stronger and is going to make landfall soon - and in so doing will adversely affect everyone who still hasn't recovered from the wrath of Ondoy.


A Shaman from Atlantica Online - one of the healer classes in the game. It's nice that she's dressed the way she is - red and white, the colors of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement - colors of help and assistance.

I started this entry with the thought of "How can the gaming and fandom communities be mobilized to help in situations like this?"

Several organizations under the New Worlds Alliance (and, indeed, the Alliance itself) have been working tirelessly to help others. Students freed from schoolwork form youth brigades to swarm relief goods depots and deploy to flood-stricken areas. Local Facebook walls remain as communications hubs for sending assistance where it is needed. The comics artists are organizing art-for-relief initiatives. And we've just seen the beginning of a wave of benefit concerts and events.

And so I wonder: are you a gamer? Are you a cosplayer? Are you part of doujinshi or fanfiction circles? Do you cater in pop culture merch?

Have you done your part?

Two easy ways to keep helping:
1. Click through to Help for Typhoon Ondoy Victims in the Philippines. Help fill in the maps. Find the organization/location accepting donations in cash and/or in kind nearest you and give what you can, be it canned goods or medicine or money or your own time.

2. Use the mobile services. On your mobile phone, type in RED[space]AMOUNT and send to 4483 for Smart and 2899 for Globe. You can donate in amounts of 5, 25, 50, 100, or 300 pesos. The usual transaction fees have been waived for this specific keyword - the Philippine National Red Cross will receive the FULL amount that you donate.

As we keep helping those displaced by Typhoon Ondoy, let us also spare a thought for preparing for Typhoon Pepeng. And even as we help others let us each remember to take care of ourselves too.