"Harry Potter is the best hope we have. Trust him."

Since this post will contain some hits and some misses in the first part of the final film installment of the Harry Potter series, PLEASE EXPECT SPOILERS FOR BOTH. Fair warning, okay?

Together with my parents, my sister, and my partner, I saw Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 last night. It was almost like a midnight screening, as the show started at about 10:30pm and ended just before 1:00am.

The first impressive thing I learned: the show was sold out. And this was a midnight screening, on a weekend, two whole days after the movie had opened. In hindsight, this was probably only to be expected. As the trailers advertise, it IS the beginning of the end, not only in-story but also for those who read the books. [At this point I'm not discriminating between the kids for whom the books were originally meant, and all the others - adults, families, parents, and readers - who fell in love with the books.]

The second impressive thing shows up as soon as the movie starts: the logos roll up in complete silence, and they are dark and grim, setting the tone for the whole film. Characters fall like flies, or reveal their hidden facets, and every single person in the film is pushed to their very limits. Voldemort plumbs the depths of evil, and of stupidity; the Malfoys and Bellatrix Lestrange find out what desperation is like; the Ministry of Magic falls to pieces.

Many commentators have already said their piece about the MoM sequences, and I can only add, "Damn right." There are SERIOUS World War II overtones in the story, from the puppet politician in charge to the security force with red armbands.

As for the good characters, well, just look at that film poster to begin with. Harry, Hermione, and Ron go on the run, abandoning families and friends and school and everyone who cares except for each other. This is not an idyll by any means. Things go horribly wrong before they start going right - and what little hope we have at the ending is squashed, hard, by the knowledge that the entirety of the Hogwarts sequences - including the climactic battle - is yet to come.

So many deaths. So many sacrifices. And we have to begin with the trio in flight.



Hits and misses after the jump:

A final salute to NU107.5

Last night, at about 9 or 10 in the evening, my partner and I tuned in to the radio station NU107.5, which had billed itself as the home of Pinoy [Philippine] rock and roll.

The live video feed showed a shit-ton of people crammed inside the booth, a huge crowd outside the windows. The broadcast booth being on the ground floor of a building, and the building being on a corner, you can imagine how it was - the DJs could look out in two directions and see people in black, drinking, holding candles, holding cameras.

Last night was the last night in existence of this major and important radio station.

Adding poignancy to our tuning in was the fact that one of the DJs was a friend of ours. She joined many of the station's key personnel in playing final songs and giving final speeches.

I had to cry because the song she picked was this:


"Don't You [Forget About Me]", Simple Minds. From the soundtrack to The Breakfast Club.

As the clock's hands crept toward midnight, my Twitter started flooding with emotions over the radio station. Knowing that the station was mandated to play the Philippine National Anthem at the very end of its final sign-off, there was much speculation on what the final song would be.

The livestream, unfortunately, cut off just before 12 midnight. Luckily, my mobile phone had an FM radio function - so I hurriedly plugged us in, just as DJ Francis Brew cued up the last song the station would ever play.


"Ang Huling El Bimbo" [The Last El Bimbo], Eraserheads. From the album "Cutterpillow".

And at THAT, well, there was nothing for it but to turn away and start sniffling. Had to cling on to my partner for dear life. I think I won't be alone now in saying that I will never listen to this song the same way again.

I look forward to hearing the news that NU107 lives again, maybe as a pirate radio station, maybe as an Internet outfit. Stations come and go, technology marches on, but the music lives forever.

Rakenrol, dudes. \m/

From Boyzone to Take That

If you're on my Facebook or Twitter then you know that I was listening to a bunch of UK boy band songs over the past weekend or so. Specifically, I had been shuffling through the catalogue of Boyzone, with occasional side-tracks from Take That [specifically, "Back for Good"].

That weekend was also the first time I heard the songs "Love You Anyway" and "Gave It All Away".

I'm not ashamed to say I cried watching those two videos. "Love You Anyway" was supposed to be their comeback / reunion single - and then Stephen Gately died. So they did "Gave It All Away" as a tribute to him.

I have to admit I was unmoved by the boy bands craze in the nineties. I only ever bothered to listen to Boyzone - I liked the way they performed, I liked the way they sounded, and I quite liked the way they all looked - I mean, they didn't really stick much to the clean-cut good-boy stereotypes, did they?

And then there was that spirit of fun that they brought to many of their videos: "When the Going Gets Tough [The Tough Get Going]"; "Picture of You"; their cameo in U2's "The Sweetest Thing".

I was one of the many fans who was devastated when I found out that Stephen had died so suddenly last year. It was like a slap to the face. And when I read all over the world news that the remaining members of Boyzone reacted the way they did - I wonder how close to actual hysteria each one of them came - I had nothing to say but "I understand".

I miss them. And I miss my cassette tape of "By Request", one of their greatest hits compilations.

***

On the other hand, I don't know why the fans are staging a backlash against the return of Robbie Williams to Take That - especially when the band themselves are claiming to be enthusiastically happy about it. It's not really a fandom I participated in, though, so I've nothing more to say except, you know, hopefully "Back for Good".

Getting stared at: WORTH IT.

Warning: Snark ahead!

Out and about today with the boyfriend: we visited the La Mesa Ecopark in Quezon City - not much going on there, but apparently it's a great hit with local families. Amenities include swimming, rowboating, trail riding, paintball. Unfortunately the one feature we wanted to try - fishing - is no longer on offer.

From there we went to SM Megamall in Pasig City. As we got on the escalators we found out that there was a mini-convention going on: "I Ai Anime" by OtakuZine. So we popped in for a quick look.

First off: PHP 100 for a ticket?! The con was a little bit of rip-off city: only took up one exhibit hall and didn't even fill it all up. One space was taken up by the merchants and fandom sellers, one corner by a cafe, one by a stage - and that was it.

Secondly, at the time we showed up the place was still deserted. Other cons I've been to were already standing-room-only by the time 12 noon rolled around, with lines snaking out the entrance and around the mall corridors. But there we were standing in the exhibit hall at a few minutes to noon and there was enough space for people to literally run around and chase each other.

Third: Who knows the rules for playing Jeopardy! any more? And worse, who ever heard of a Jeopardy! game where all the answers had to be written down? You only do that for the Final Jeopardy! round and then you've got to wager something to do it - but the con emcees were trying to get people to play Otaku Trivia Jeopardy!, and ... weren't doing such a hot job.

About the only thing that redeemed the con was the variety and richness of fandom sellers: accessories galore. Pins, silly hats, key chains, mobile phone charms - there was quite a lot to choose from.

And, oh, did I mention SILLY HATS?

BRAINZZZZ~!

We spotted one merchant selling all sorts of Plants vs Zombies stuff and after much deliberation, we wound up buying this lovely zombie-head hat. I would almost call it a helm a la Ragnarok Online - look at the size of that thing!

After we left the con I kept the hat on while we strolled around the mall corridors. Reactions varied, but yes, it was very satisfying to get stared at. After all, there was a zombie in the mall!

News and notes again

I'm making another one of these, only in a different shade of blue, a different yarn, and a different brim. Not telling you who it's for; it's not a commission either.



Give me another weekend and it shall be done - I hope!

***

Damnit parts of my university burned on Wednesday night! The affected building at UP-Diliman was Palma Hall, a/k/a the building where all the freshmen go. Luckily, no one was hurt. But imagine the property damage! The affected parts were the Chem Pavilion, parts of the Physics Pavilion, and the sections of Palma Hall adjoining those pavilions. *grr!*

***

In a shout-out to a friend - if you have any horror stories about PH electronics retailer CD-R King, kindly point them Every Juan's way HERE.

***

I've spammed my Twitter with this and you might as well know why: Share Moleskine Love! Win a Moleskine SET Twitter contest! And who doesn't LOVE Moleskines? Grab a chance to win them for a friend!

***

Man, Saturday and Sunday just cannot come quickly enough. *grumble*

Random post is really rather random....

I've just posted this one on Twitter (@pjgoespop) and thought you might want to know:

I've just heard both the Steve Perry and Arnel Pineda versions of "Don't Stop Believing" and I now firmly think that either version kicks the Glee version's backside. I always did wonder what Glee was on about - I've had enough of remakes and their High School Musical shenanigans were old LONG before HSM even ever came along.

Listen to the original's glory!



***

Oh, it looks like this blog is eligible for the The Top 10 Emerging Influential Blogs for 2010. But the idea is that I can't nominate myself - I have to nominate other blogs and hope someone will nominate me.

...Well, now, that's strange. Wonder how I should go about this. I should put together my list of new influential blogs (i.e. the blogs that influence me).

Radio silence, why the Takarazuka Kagekidan, and "Until lambs become lions"

1. Radio Silence

You might be wondering why the blog abruptly fell quiet for a while; the answer is that my maternal grandfather died in the morning of the 12th of May. I had a shift at work that evening, so I went in and asked for bereavement leave, and then completed the classes scheduled on that night.

At the wake, which was located near one of Metro Manila's major cemeteries, some of my family decided to pay a visit to another pair of sleepers. These two are very famous, and after seeing the photo I'm sure you'll understand why:



I was surprised at my own reaction to seeing them in this rather plain and simple setting - it was something like Erm, that's it? We would never have found the tomb if it weren't for a helpful series of yellow ribbons tied to mark the path.

Back on the home front, my grandfather was buried on Friday morning.

It wasn't exactly an *unexpected* death - he'd been bedridden for years and had been depressed / refusing to eat in recent weeks. Considering the rather tumultuous history I've had with him, I had nothing more to say but "goodbye".

2. Why the Kagekidan

Because of the whirlwind of: May 12 shift (Wednesday night) -> proceed to wake (pretty much all of Thursday) -> be of assistance until the burial (Friday morning), I was bone-deep tired when I got home past lunchtime on Friday. So I fell into bed and slept like a ROCK.

After getting up and seeing my partner off to his Friday night shift, I had the rest of the night to myself - so how did I spend it? By watching two Takarazuka Kagekidan revues in a row. Nothing like seeing these powerful women sing and dance so well to make me feel better.

Many Takarazuka plays are paired with musical revues, and even the full-length musical productions like Elisabeth and Rose of Versailles end with a sort of mini-revue. In this case, I watched


The Showstopper - this revue was paired with a Takarazuka adaptation of the opera Turandot. This screenshot is from the "Besame Mucho" number near the end of the revue.


Neo Voyage - the revue that was paired with a Takarazuka adaptation of the opera Il Trovatore. This screenshot is from the amazing "Puttin' on the Ritz" tap-dance medley.

3. "Rise and rise again"
And finally, I was able to catch a screening of the new Ridley Scott film Robin Hood today. It wasn't half bad; I especially liked a specific emotional transition near the beginning of the final battle sequence.



Still, yeah, ain't Russell bloody Crowe a bit too OLD to be playing these sorts of heroes and roles?

Oh, great, delusions of grandeur.

Related posts:

What I did on Election Day 2010

Check this link out for a rather neat infographic showing the current partial and unofficial tally of results coming in from Monday's elections.

GMA News - Eleksyon 2010 - Dashboard

You know, seeing a few regretfully familiar names all over those results is REALLY giving me terrible flashbacks. Specifically, to THIS:

In the place of a Dark Lord you would have a Queen! Not dark but beautiful and terrible as the Morn! Treacherous as the Seas! Stronger than the foundations of the Earth! All shall love me and despair!

No one seems to remember the general unpleasant shenanigans many of those people have gotten up to - and yet people are still happily voting them into high office.

I mean, WHUT.

What I did on Election Day 2010

And there is the indelible ink on my right pointer finger. I voted in this year's elections.

May 10, 2010: The Philippines holds its very first automated elections. Positions at both the national and local levels are up for grabs. This entire election thing has dominated all topics of national discourse for at least a year. And that's not even mentioning the usual shenanigan-riddled time and general idiocy that was the campaign period.

So, of course, on D-Day, everyone is busily hoping the country doesn't collapse under the weight of its fears, ignorance, and general lack of sense.

Was out the door around 7am. Since I failed to transfer my voter's registration from the Fourth District of QC [where I used to live] to the Second [where I now live] I had to cross the city in order to vote.

My partner had it worse; he had to cross provincial boundary lines and vote all the way over in Bulacan, which is NOT part of the National Capital Region. The trip takes less than an hour, though, so transportation is not really a problem.

I packed as though for an expedition: I brought drinks and a book so I would neither dehydrate nor get bored. Arrived at the high school where my precinct is located after an hour's commute; cracked open the second drink and the book at around the same time.

[As an aside, I was the only one within sight to have thought of bringing some means of killing time. Sure, people were texting or whatever on their phones, but it sure felt weird to be the only one there reading a book. How much more unusual I would have appeared if I'd brought Hamster, or if I'd had an e-reader instead.]

An hour and a half or so later, I'm on page 101 of my book, and on the threshold of the classroom where I'm to vote. So I shut the book and went to check my name on the voters' list - I was still there. After another half-hour, I face the Board of Election Inspectors, pass their scrutiny, and receive a ballot, a ballot secrecy folder, and a marking pen.

It only takes about ten minutes to vote; I got paranoid, I read everything first before shading ovals. It takes two tries before my ballot is accepted by the PCOS machine. I cast vote number 156 in that precinct.

And then I'm done, at about a quarter to 11 in the morning. Four hours to vote, and most of that eaten up by both travel time and waiting in line. Oh well.

***

Now comes the hard part: waiting on the results. The polls are supposed to close at 6pm and then the machines must do the work that they were built for, which is to tally up all the votes. I predict the country holding its breath until some results come out - and then of course I haven't yet mentioned the usual bugbears of Philippine elections: cheating and a million and one ways of saying "I wuz robbed!"

Will update this post later, after 6pm.

***

UPDATE THE FIRST: More photos.

Me on the left, my partner on the right. After casting our votes we met up for a big lunch, with the crab in the picture being among the courses.

And now you know what we wore to the polls. Hey, even stormtroopers have to vote.

PJ Goes Pop receives its first blog award!

Thank you so very much to a dear friend and enabler: Jonette at The Hobby Horse, for this Beautiful Blogger Award.



The rules for the award:
1. Thank the person who gave you the award, and link back to them.
2. Pass the award on to 15 bloggers whom you've recently discovered and think are fantastic.
3. Contact those bloggers and let them know that they've won the award.
4. State seven (7) things about yourself.

With item number 1 marked as done and done, I need to pass the award on - and here are my picks. Sorry I haven't quite made the required 15.

Crafty Cat - Clair
Tres Mujeres - The Misadventures of the Desanggria Family - Anne DeSanggria
Lion Brand Notebook - The Lion Brand Yarn Blog - a team of 8: David, Ilana, Jack, Jess, Laura, Lindsey, Patty, and Zontee
Crochet Me - Kim Werker - the founder of the site

Seven things about myself? Hard to think of it when I do tend to indulge in TMI of the fannish and otaku-ish persuasion here. But let's give it a shot.

> I will try to eat absolutely anything once. This is how I learned to stop worrying and love kimchi, love it enough to attempt making it at home once! But this is also how I learned to abhor delicacies like durian and sea urchin.
> My primary favorite when it comes to cosplay is the Edwardian/Victorian form of cross-play. Men's suits. Frock coats. Essentially I want to steal the entire wardrobe used by Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law in Sherlock Holmes.
> If I could make it to the Takarazuka Grand Theater, the Tokyo Takarazuka Theater, AND the Wao Enterprise offices in Japan, I will die happy. Seriously. Even if I just wound up standing outside on the sidewalk.
> I missed out on a lot of good TV. Not because I didn't have TV, but because I wasn't allowed to stay up and/or watch the programs. The Twilight Zone, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, The X-Files, Millennium, even sitcoms like Family Ties and The Golden Years. Oh, and stuff like T.O.D.A.S. and Goin' Bananas.
> If I ever get married, I want to do the wedding ceremony in cosplay. Something like Cowboy Bebop although I can never see myself in the iconic Faye Valentine outfit. Jedi robes, maybe? (This is partly because friends of mine who are also members of the 501st got married very recently.)
> My current pipe dream is to open a small business that focuses on bringing good quality yarns and crafting notions into the country. I realize this might place me in direct competition with Tita Lilli at Dreams Yarnshoppe. But I was thinking more along the lines of I could bring in the stuff she can't.
> If I ever take up knitting it will be for the Fourth Doctor's scarf alone. After that, it's back to crochet for me.

One more extra:
> I always feel sad because no one ever recognizes the source of my blog's subtitle.

O tempora o mores!

Here's a subject that's increasingly encroaching on my conversations with my significant other, my friends online and off-, and, well, I might as well give the game away and say that this has been the theme of conversations with members of my own generation at present:

Damn, we're getting OLD.

I think it was the local snarkmeister Jessica Zafra who said something along the lines of, "Don't you just HATE it when a song comes on the radio and everyone else thinks it's such an edgy original, great sound, good performance - but you KNOW you have it on CASSETTE TAPE and you first heard it on your WALKMAN - and you're the only one who knows that song is a REMAKE?"

Case in point: "The Beginning is the End is the Beginning". I recognized it immediately as the song from the George Clooney/Chris O'Donnell Batman & Robin movie right off the bat during the Watchmen trailers. Well, I guess it was just me, since apparently, a lot of younger fans thought that it was a NEW Smashing Pumpkins song.

Cue the reactions: O_o @.@ >.< *facepalm*

And what about the proliferation of those girls and boys dressed up like goth-lolis and trucker-hat emos, eh? So the Philippines finally has its own local definition of weeaboo: people who watch only stuff like Naruto and Bleach and dress up like poor imitations of gothic lolitas, but wouldn’t know what an odango was if it hit them in the face with a matching cry of Tsuki ni kawatte oshioki yo!

And what about those of us who make affectionate jokes about Say My Name? Everyone thinks it began with

MIAKA! TAMAHOME!

but long before that (in 1978!) there was

KAZUYA! ERIKA!

Which got localized to

RICHARD! ERIKA!



And even before that there was

OSCAR! ANDRE!



It's so difficult to realize that the world has passed me by and most of the things that I knew and loved and grew up with have pretty much receded into the mists of history – if it hasn’t been bastardized by clueless remakes, that is.

And now I shall do as Lady Oscar does and get myself a drink, too. I think I need it.

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.

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?

"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!!!

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.

The After-Action Report from Cosplay Mania 2009

[previous event coverage: Covering Day 1 of ToyCon 2009]

Cosplay Mania 2009
13 September 2009
Megatrade Halls 2 & 3 + Function Rooms, SM Megamall

So, yes, I was there: Cosplay Mania 2009, one of the biggest cosplay-oriented gatherings we have here in the Philippines. This year, they made the most of a greatly expanded function area (the previous event took up one convention hall; now they occupied two, and used both function rooms besides) to bring in a ton of booths. Many of the merchants catered to dress-up types (wigs, accessories, a few actual clothes sellers), and others sold typical con merch (figures, anime, manga, stuffed toys, etc.).


A few of my favorite photos from the day.
Top row, left to right: three famous cosplay costumes. The Gundam Girl and the Zaku Girl were made by the same guy, while the Saitou Hajime outfit was made famous at the first con in the Philippines.
Second row: a guy in "The Box" from the Metal Gear games, a great crowd favorite. Too bad he didn't do the catwalk. There's also a pic of six members of the Philippine Outpost of the 501st Legion of Stormtroopers.
Third row: another hit with the crowd was this adorable little guy in his full Son Gohan outfit. He did the catwalk to the huge squee of the crowds. He, the Moogle/Tonde Buurin (Super Boink) pair, and the Bruce Lee cosplayer were part of the huge blast-from-the-past air at the con.
Fourth row: Musashi and Koujirou (Jesse and James) of Team Rocket, blasting in at the speed of light; and a guy in a full Space Marine kit, from the upcoming Starcraft 2.

As mentioned above, there were quite a few old-school anime titles represented at the event: from Sailor Moon to Rurouni Kenshin; as well as games for the PC (Final Fantasy VIII and X-2) and MMORPGs (Granado Espada).

Multiple Vocaloids and Axis Powers Hetalia groups showed up, and there was one large group of students/classmates/friends who had apparently been assigned various national costumes to wear to the event.

I stuck around to see various bands perform (there was one band that did a K-On! set, and one that performed a rock version of the Imperial March), and then for the entirety of the cosplay catwalk events. There was a group event and an individual event; I'll post the winners soon.

You can check out my other photos HERE. Please be kind when you repost the pictures: put in a credit link back to the blog.

Edited to add: Finally I've managed to upload this video somewhere and play it properly. During the con, there was a special comedy skit that went onstage just before the group and individual cosplay catwalks. It was a dance-off between the New Worlds Alliance's resident comedy/dance group, the Stormballs, and a group of challengers who called themselves the Yagbols.

I managed to capture the last part of the skit on my camera, and here it is. Warning, this is slightly NSFW - most of the people onstage at this time are down to their skivvies.

Please swallow anything you're eating or drinking before you press Play.



[Up next: the loot from the event. Yes, there is loot. I saved my money up deliberately for the event, because there were some things I really wanted to buy.]

Pop Chart: Granado Espada Does the Wonder Girls!

After much buildup and massive amounts of work, it's done and online!



Presenting: GE.Nobody, Darrick/Mr. NG's machinima version of the popular Wonder Girls ditty - as performed by the five stock character classes of the MMORPG Granado Espada!

If you ever wanted to know what the original Korean lyrics meant, then you can find out right here. The director threw in subtitles for the entire song. And watch out for the gorgeous costuming and fantastic dance effects!

Enjoy the song and marvel at the hard work and dedication of its creator.

(Yes, that's me in the credits. I was among the cheerleaders for this project. :) )

Pop Chart: Wonder Girls and "Nobody", robots and Granado Espada

Top of composite is a screengrab from one of the "robots" video versions of "Nobody"; bottom of composite is a promotional image made by Darrick/Mr. NG for his forthcoming Granado Espada version of the same song.

A quick glance at the Wonder Girls' Wikipedia page shows that not only have the Wonder Girls (currently composed of Ye-eun, Sunye, Sohee, Sunmi, and Yubin) been around since 2007, but that song of theirs that's been ruling both the airwaves and the Internet - "Nobody", of course - was released in 2008!

So why are we only hearing that song now? Part of the answer is that the band and their management chose "Nobody" to become their North American debut single. The single hit American musical outlets in June 2009 - and now everyone's at least HEARD of it (pun most definitely intended).

The song and the video have since gone viral on YouTube. Part of that may be attributed to the insanely catchy tune and lyrics, and part to the dance moves.

It's gotten to the point where it's become a mini-trend on not only YouTube but the social networking sites. Either you make your own video of you doing the dance moves, or you share the more interesting versions with your social network.

The "robots" version (made by Yongchul Lee of KAIST, South Korea; posted online by YouTube user jcbazin) is one of my favorite takes on the song. It's been mistakenly described all over the place as featuring Optimus Prime, Starscream, and Bumblebee. It doesn't look as though the robots in the video have Autobot/Decepticon badges, though - I think it's just that people are associating it with the Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen movie.

Taking inspiration from the "Nobody" phenomenon, my good friend and fellow blogger Darrick/Mr. NG of the blog Fantazzztic! has decided to put together a machinima version of the full song, with dance moves by female stock characters from the MMORPG Granado Espada (which I've already mentioned here).

Sample video 1 - pilot
Sample video 2 - first set of props added

I'm really rooting for him to complete this video soon, the more so since September will mark the second anniversary of Granado Espada in the Philippines! Please cheer him on along with me!

Two Modern Takes on Zorro

(There are certain bus lines in Metro Manila that have TVs and, often, DVD players installed so that passengers and driving crew alike could have some distraction from traffic or the grind of the road. If the bus isn't playing a DVD movie, chances are, it's tuned to a local television channel.)

My, my, there seems to be a bit of Zorro revival going on this year....

While commuting to work this morning, I heard on the TV that local network GMA's licensed drama series version of Zorro - the one with Richard Gutierrez is now in its final two weeks of airing.

In this local production, Zorro's civilian identity is Antonio de la Cruz Pelaez, and he's supposed to be some kind of distant relation or descendant of the real Zorro, a/k/a Don Diego de la Vega. However, Antonio's love interest is named Lolita Pulido - the same name as Don Diego's own love interest! Confused yet?

Whenever the commercials for this soap-opera/adventure story series show up I am instead reminded of the recent musical version staged by the Takarazuka Kagekidan, Zorro - The Masked Messiah. This was paired with a revue showcase of traditional Japanese dance and theater or Nihonmono, titled Kaze no Nishiki-e ["Nishiki-e of the Wind"]

A Snow Troupe (Yukigumi) production, the Zuka Zorro show had THREE Zorros! Top Star Mizu Natsuki plays both Don Diego and Zorro, while her partner Shirahane Yuri plays the dual roles of Lolita Pulido and Lady Zorro. The third Zorro is actually Otozuki Kei as Bernardo, Diego's Indian friend, who dresses up in the black togs as part of Zorro's diversionary tactics.


On the left, an official publicity flyer for the Takarazuka Kagekidan production of Zorro - The Masked Messiah, showing both Mizu Natsuki and Shirahane Yuri in their swashbuckling gear. On the right, a publicity shot of Richard Gutierrez as Zorro.

Having seen brief video clips of both shows, I prefer the Zuka production - and one of the major reasons is because Lolita actually takes up a sword and beats up on bad guys. Yes, at some point she gets foiled, necessitating the return of the real Zorro, but still - Lolita as an action girl, awesome! Problem with the TV series is that their Lolita tends to be just a typical damsel in distress....

And for a Zorro-vs.-Zorro comparison - Mizu Natsuki puts on a more effective performance for me as compared to Richard Gutierrez, whom I can never seem to take seriously no matter what role he is in. Sure, he has the bone structure and he's had some fight training - but Mizu is a professional when it comes to swords and other weapons, having done action and warrior roles throughout her long sojourn with the Revue.

Hmm, next question - how would Mizu and Richard stack up against, say, Antonio Banderas, as well as the original portrayer of Zorro, the great Douglas Fairbanks?