A day in the life…

SO and I dropped by at the first day of the Ozine Fest in Megamall. Lots of geeks and kids around.

Nothing really much happened, except during the start of the Group Cosplay.

For the non-geeks, the cosplay is the highlight of any otaku convention. So everyone in the venue had to look for spaces and places where they could see the cosplayers.

We went to the left side of the stage to get a good view. The only space we managed to squeeze into was near the Yakult tarpaulin.

So while we and the other kids were scrambling for a view, we angled the tarp so that we could see better. Suddenly the dudes at the front of the tarp arranged it in such a way that it blocked our view.

SO said aloud, "Salamat ha, may nanonood kasi dito e."

To which a woman’s face appeared behind (or from the front) of the tarp and said in a sarcastic manner:

"Excuse me, we paid 100 thousand pesos for this!!!"

Whoa! Talk about PMS.

That girl was from the Yakult booth, or table, beside the Yoshinoya makeshift counter. Probably a Brand Man, an AE, an event coord, or a promo girl in a red collared shirt and a ponytail.

Whom I think isn’t much of an anime/gaming fan as those kids behind and beside the tarp.

SO was all fired up and wanted to fight with the girl. Good thing I managed to calm him down. We moved to another place nearby with a better view.

With all this, I have only two things to say.

#1: Otaku’s are more interested with the program than you are. Give them the view. And remember it’s their turf, not yours. So don’t act snotty. You’re not in your territory. You could have told us off in a civilized manner… or maybe you grew up with none at all.

and #2: Your tarp costs P100K?! No kidding! Ano yan, ginto? My SO’s from an ad agency. I have friends in ad agencies. I came from an ad agency. And believe me, your tarp that fits a common sized spider stand would not cost that much. Even if it’s two tarps. You were played by your supplier! And you fell for it! Poor you!

Midway through the Group Cosplay contest, I saw you guys putting down the tarps. Naku, sayang naman yung P100K tarp kung ilalagay n’yo lang sa sahig. Tsk, tsk.

If anyone knows this Yakult girl in the Ozine Fest… tell her I could recommend her to artists who can do her collats for a much, much, MUCH lower cost.

The weekend that just passed was probably the most hectic that I’ve ever experienced so far. Lots of people, lots of kids.

I think I lost 10 pounds that time… and regained them with a Double Bart Burger.

——–

Last Saturday, while SO and I were eating dinner at Burger King, their radio blasts a song that goes:

"Jolly jolly, Jollibee jolly jolly (repeat X times)…"

We began to wonder if we were eating at the right fastfood chain.

——–

If you were in church, and you saw a really big cockroach walking towards you, would you step on it and kill it or would you let it it live and feel it climb up your pants?

——–

Congratulations to those who have passed the bar. Nawa’y maging mabubuti kayong liar, este, lawyer.

… simply because one contestant did a cover version of a cover version.

I only got to watch the last 3 contestants. And David Cook gets my attention because of his rendition of "Billie Jean."

The audience near Ryan Seacrest was screaming so loud I didn’t hear that it was that song he was about to sing. Only when he let the first few words out, then I realized…

He’s doing a version of a Chris Cornell version of Michael Jackson’s song.

Sorry to burst the judges’ bubble, but no, Cook’s version is not entirely "original." Brave, yes. But original? Not quite.

Cornell’s "Billie Jean" has been out since last year (I think). The copy we heard was done live, during a concert perhaps with his old band, Audioslave. Or probably pre-Audioslave even. Though there was a slight change in arrangement during his performance, there’s no mistaking that Cook did a cover of a cover. You have to admit that.

Hmm, shades of Daughtry?

There was a reason why we got on a jeep to Cubao from Novaliches instead of traversing the usual Delta route.

There was a reason why we went to eat at Shopwise Cubao instead of grabbing a meal at Megamall.

Thanks to our curiosity of the few number of people in the area and wondering if everyone was outside the Araneta Coliseum, we got to learn that tickets were still available.

Never mind if we bought Upper Box B SRO tickets.

Never mind if we didn’t catch Up Dharma Down during their number.

Never mind if we were carrying 5 pieces of green mangoes in the bag.

Never mind if i got hoarse from all of the screaming.

Never mind if we were standing the whole time by the stairs.

Never mind if the people around us were not going crazy, either because they think it’s crazy or they’re just in awe or probably scared that the venue would come crashing down.

Never mind if I didn’t get to catch Mike’s guitar pick.

Never mind if some rich b—h got Mike’s guitar pick.

Never mind if we had to settle for a simple wave to signal the end of the show.

We were at the Incubus concert just a few hours ago.

We had no plans, initially, of buying tickets and going inside. But as fate would have it, we got to enjoy the show.

I love fate. It twists funny sometimes.

——–

I always plan my itinerary for the day. But sometimes doing things impromptu is fun, too.

I noticed I haven’t been blogging much for a while now.

No wonder my Self wasn’t feeling normal.

——–

My friend was making fun of me last weekend, telling me that he’s surprised I don’t know any new song that’s playing on the radio.

I blame Winamp and iTunes for this ignorance.

That’s why I’m back to listening to the radio through eRadioPortal.com.

Haha, hindi rin nalayo sa computer.

Now my head is stuck singing to Chris Brown’s latest song. Thanks to my panot but not so panot bastard friend.

——–

My dad requested me to check on a file he asked my brother to send through email.

He said the recipient didn’t get his mail this morning.

So before going to work (yeah, I’m working in an afternoon shift), I checked his email, went to his Sent folder and saw the email.

It was sent, alright. Just a bit of a problem.

The address was supposed to be itsahit@XXXX.xxx.

My bro typed the address with another "s" in between the letters "a" and "h". Kinda reads wrong, doesn’t it?

I wanted to laugh but my dad, who was beside me, was beginning to say some common Visayan expletive. So I just stayed quiet while my brain was letting out a loud guffaw.

Wait ’til my sibs hear about this.

——–

To my friend G, I’m contemplating on moving my blog. Just dunno if in Blogger or Wordpress or Livejounal or Typepad.

I’ll just bookmark you as soon as I do. =)

——–

Words have wings. It’s a universal truth.

Just this weekend a few words landed on my lap unexpectedly.

Oddly it took a while to get to me, when I’m just less than a kilometer away from you. Probably because the message was passed from pigeon to pigeon. Thus the delay. Pretty hard for the pigeons to remove the note from their legs by just using only their beaks.

You could’ve sent your own homing pigeon straight to me, you know.

I was wondering if something got lost in translation. It was missing a piece.

Just as a person cannot complete a 1000-piece puzzle when even one is missing, I still can’t find the piece that will complete a pivotal picture.

I’m confident I’ll find it soon. But not from the lair of the pigeons.

——–

Six months. Ago? To go? Had passed? Until what? Keep guessing.

… if they keep on short-changing me by Php0.50 everytime I buy in that store.

That has always been the case since last year… or was it last last year… anyhoo, that has always been the case when my total reaches so-and-so pesos and 50 centavos. The cashier guy or girl will tell me, "Ma’am okay lang po kulang ng 50 centavos?"

Being either in a hurry or too hungry to wait if he or she could give me that missing change soon, I’d settle for "Fine."

If this trend continues, I would have lost a sum of money I could have used to buy clothes, shoes or gadgets.

So Ministop, feel my wrath.

From now on, I will demand that friggin’ 50 centavos everytime I buy from you. Magpakahirap kayong hanapin yun… di ko kayo tatantanan.

Wow. Heath Ledger is dead. Reportedly due to overdose of sleeping pills.

Bad, bad, bad. I was thinking, after the release of The Dark Knight, he’d probably be considered one of the best actors Hollywood has. And he won’t be stereotyped as just a plain heartthrob.

Maybe he got so affected playing the Joker.

Bet The Dark Knight will beat box-office records because of this.

… and how!

Since last week, I can’t get "that song" out of my head.

If you’ve been watching this early, the name Reynaldo Lapuz would probably bring mixed emotions. Right?

I’ve watched the Dallas auditions last week. And that guy was… uh, different. Pompous, in a way. But downright crazy. Is that negative or positive? I dunno.

All I know is that if I hear his own composition "We’re Brothers Together" again, that will be my LSS for the month. Until he appears in American Idol again or if that song, as Simon predicts, will be a huge hit in the near future.

The next William Hung? In my book, yes.

For now, reminisce his audition piece and visit this blog for more Reynaldo Lapuz stuff, complete with an interview with FOX and lyrics to his own composition.

SO and I get to be jologs once every year. And what better time than the Christmas season, where Pinoy movies rule the cinemas? Yep, we had the guts (yet again) to watch an entry from the Metro Manila Film Festival.

I had been coaxing my SO to watch films like Shake Rattle and Roll 9 or Bahay Kubo, only in vain. He bought tickets to Resiklo. Uh, Bong Revilla? Great…

I’ve seen the trailer in YouTube (with a sucky English voiceover that squeaks like a chipmunk… who the heck is he?!) and honestly saw shades of Hollywood films like the Matrix and AVP, hints of video game plots, and designs which were probably inspired from entries in a Cosplay. I still don’t get why people are comparing it to Transformers, which is absolutely a far cry from it. Lemme guess… because the robots were moving?

I was ready to be disappointed when the movie started. For a post-apocalyptic era where natural resources are rationed, Bong Revilla seems to be a tad bit clean. All throughout the movie. It’s amazing that hygiene is still a priority of the people of Paraiso (which they call their secret base of human survivors) while food and water are being saved for a rainy day. At least the gash on his right arm is consistent.

The whole theme of the movie is like War of the Worlds: alien invasion. Earth’s allied forces have fallen and so the aliens (called Balang, or Locusts — which SO notes is what the aliens are called in the PS game Gears of War) are turning humans into either food or mutated beings. In the Philippines, there is one community of survivors hiding somewhere. Bong Revilla belongs here, but along with his army of misfits that includes his sons (which are not his sons here) and Sergio, errr, Dingdong Dantes, they’re collecting things outside Paraiso that they could recycle (ooohh… so that’s why the title is called so). These recyclable things are made, as we learn in the latter part, to become weapons and robots against the alien race.

Jennylyn Mercado is Mr. Revilla’s sort-of love interest (geez, she could be as old as your daughter, dude!) who, with her younger sister, seek Paraiso and her long-lost father.

I must say that this movie is the surprise of the year. Honestly, the robots’ design still needed a lot of improvements (it looked like a toy robot from the 80s) and consciousness of details, like shadows and stuff. There are a few scenes in which I felt the robots were not in the right proportion against the humans. Despite everything, I know there are a lot of Pinoys who do amazing work with 3D, compositing and junk art (that shows our sheer ingenuity). I salute these people. And yeah, the alien spaceship had a great design.

Cheesy lines and morale-boosting blah, errr, speeches are expected with this kind of movie. At least Paolo Contis made good with his comic antics.

Continuity had hits and misses here and there. Some stunts were pretty unrealistic, like Bong Revilla and Roi Vinzon’s fight scene. A kid has powers similar to Hiro Nakamura, and a medium whose eyes become white like Isaac Mendez. Need to improve on the chroma technique (you should get the guys who do the Lotto show on Ch4). Production should be aware of minor details like bruises, dirty nails (heck, it’s post-apocalyptic), scratches on the "armor" and the guns. And yeah, unlimited bullets?! Again?! Did someone just push "U-U-D-D-L-R-L-R-Sel-Start" before the movie played?

Overall, with the nice twist in the ending and Kevin Roy shouting the theme song during the credits, Resiklo is pretty entertaining. Surprised? Yep, me too.

I dunno if this is an isolated case, but…

Just a while ago, when we were going to San Mig to grab dinner, a dude with a halo and angel wings was offering something free by the sidewalk. Turns out he’s from the nearby Starbucks. He offered us a sample of a Gingerbread Boy. My officemate and I got one each. It was free, anyway.

I told Fluxx I was going to behead the poor Gingerbread Boy. Only that I couldn’t do it at the first bite. Ouch, he’s hard (no pun intended)!

Imagine the amount of effort I had to exert just to eat the cookie. My officemate gave up and threw hers in a steel waste can with a resounding CLANG!

I got to finish my cookie, only my jaws were complaining.

Mama Mich and Tren, this is just a comment.

Masyado kang matigas, boy!