CrunchyRoll aka AlternativeTube

AlternativeTube: That's what its name should be, but crunchyroll is fine. It is a place where you can go to get your Anime/Drama fix. Video quality is acceptable, but I guess they're starting to get bandwidth issues and now requires signing-up.

They have tons of stuff including: Mushishi , Bleach, Tsubasa Chrnonicles and even JDramas.

Mushishi

This anime series is so brilliant, it deserves its own post. Think X-files, Studio Ghibli(eg Princess Mononoke), and FFVII in one. It mixes folklore with heartwarming stories while making each episode nearly self-contained. Right now, ANN users deem it as 3rd best and I highly recommend watching it.

Vermin Vengeance

By using a 'Kaibigan' brand mouse trap (80Php) and generic peanut butter, I was able to reduce the number of critters running around the house. You may think I'm whacked in the head to be proud of my battle against mice, but I have been continuously festered by their disregard for property and food. DIE!!!

Visual Violence Warning: Animal Rights sensitive people are advised not to view this image.

[Scary, Gory, Sick Image here]

Pretty Poor

Lousy title, but it summarizes this post well enough.

Pisay96 together with other generous souls decided to give back to our less fortunate siblings by throwing them an early Christmas party. Pics are in my multiply.

The Vocational Training School of the Our Lady of Grace Parish held the coronation night of its 'Mutya ng VTS', which is both a fund-raising activity and a beauty contest. Pics are here.

Hot TOEInty Anime!

This picture probably summarizes the spirit of the event. It's Michael V being smothered by a Shigi-shigi girl.

TOEI Philippines celebrated its 20th Anniversary with a bang. The day was filled with events for everyone like Fan Art Contests, Anime Dubbing and the anticipated Group Cosplay.

There was the group doing 'One Piece', displaying some well choreographed matches. Third place went to 'Saint Seiya', Second place to a Robot mix team and First Place unquestionably went to 'Shigi-shigi Sputnik' who impressed the crowd with their version of 'Shaider'.

'Trance' a vocal group sang 'Mayonaka no Door' which, unfortunately not a lot of people know about. I'm thankful that they performed it, but I guess I'd still prefer if Liu Yi Fei had sung it.

I added 'HOT' as a description because the venue was open-air but painfully hot/humid. A better/bigger venue or at least industrial blowers could have made it a lot more enjoyable.

The rest of the pics are here.

'Canon' Fodder

Nope, exactly the opposite. Canon is serious about its commitment to customer service, not leaving you alone once you buy one of their products. Here's a little story with regards to my 350D.

Cameras and lenses are sensitive to prolonged exposure to humidity. I learned this the hard way after around 4 months, I noticed snowflake like crystals growing in the inner elements on my 18-55mm lens. I postponed getting it checked at the Canon service center, anticipating that it might take too long.

I recently bought an EF 50mm 1.8 II lens and needed to submit the warranty form. I took this chance to have the camera and 18-55 checked as well. The head service guy definitely had a frown when I showed him the lens, but they took it in and told me to wait as much as 7 days.

Alas, 24hours later I received a call from Canon telling me that my stuff is ready for pick-up. I went there the next day and w00t, a new/replacement lens. The best thing about it? I didn't have to pay for anything :D

On a side note, the sensor cleaning wasn't perfect. I still see 4 medium dots and a large one. It's a lot better that if I do it myself so that's fine.

Batista vs. Superman

Ask any pinoy kid and they'll tell you Superman's got no chance :))
(smallville S06E08)

Mayonaka no DOOR by Liu Yi Fei

This is the first end song of PowerPuff Girls Z
I simply love this song, and I'm putting it up since they decided to use a new one.

Ham or Egg?

In a recent episode of Grey's Anatomy, a character made an analogy between relationships and food. He said that the level of commitment is either from a pig, which goes all out resulting in ham... or a chicken which safely lays eggs.

I've been laying eggs, and its painful that I realize it now. How do I turn myself into a ham person?

edit: Ham means going into a relationship/endeavor in full-blast. A pig's life ends when it is decided that food will be the outcome. Nothing half-assed.

SONOLUMINESCENCE

SONOLUMINESCENCE:
The Music When the Lights Go Out
The PSHS Fair Concert 2006

Other [Pics]

GRAW: Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter

A friend of mine has been raving about this game for quite some time. I first had a go at it when we tested the PCs in his shop:GAMESquad Internet (along Kamuning Ave). GRAW is badass, addicting and extremely hungry. The game play is geared for true strategy and teamwork. Imagine having to properly plan the weapons to bring, team positions, map routes and avoiding heavy armory.
Story: The plot is set in 2013 where a coup in mexico occurs and not only is the mexican president in danger, but so is the US president himself. You (Capt. Mitchell) and your ghost are sent all over the place, given insane objectives and ultimately need to recover a briefcase that can shake the whole world.
Likes: It's both a First Person Shooter(FPS) and a strategy game. There are missions that commanding 3 other ghosts is crucial to the success of the mission, and at others you're just a lone warfighter trying to beat the odds. Fun moments are getting to control flying observation drones, using ZEUS heat seaking rocket launchers, ordering airstrikes(reminds me of starcraft), calling forth Apache choppers, commanding tanks, and just bursting forth as Rambo.

Dislikes: Sometimes the ghosts act like stupid pricks who can't even follow a simple order, but most of the time they're freaking brilliant. To avoid lag and to speed up the game, you have to look down so that the system doesn't have to render a building lightyears away.

Hungry! This game has insane PC minimum requirements:
* Processor: Intel or AMD, 2 GHz
* Memory: 1024 MB RAM
* DirectX: DirectX9.0c
* Graphics Card: 128 MB DX9.0c compatible card (GeForce 6200 or higher, Radeon 9600 or higher)

So even with my system: AMD64 3000+ , 1.5GB RAM and GeForce 6600 128MB... there are still crappy moments.

All in all, it is an amazing game... if you have enough CPU and GPU power to run NASA. I wouldn't mind playing the game in unrendered 3D because the story and the challenges are awesome.

If you want to see how good it is, try this trailer and this.

I'm Google Earthing, Earthlings

It's been a week since I started using this fun tool from google.

I've found my house,

the family house in bulacan,
the insane islands UAE people are trying to build
and Nazcan Lines (Hummingbird).
Try it out! Its tons of fun.

A Shining Star Amidst an Otherwise Dreary October Day

Tsk, tsk... this would have been a great picture. That's if it wasn't overshadowed by the two people in its foreground.













Why? Why did they have to pose in front of the camera? That bonklers with the goatee and that 'ever so pretty, charming and angelic host of Us Girls' Francesca (Chesca/Cheska) Garcia.


Seriously, I was having an absolutely rotten day. I got stuck on my way to Makati and arrived incredibly late. I accidentally left my phone with her the previous night so I had absolutely no line of communication. The reception desk of Renaissance Hotel was adamant that she hasn't checked out yet. I wasted 3 hours having the operator call her room and going up to knock on her door.

There was a 'thank you for respecting my privacy' tag on her door so the staff are not allowed to barge in. That really worried me with the what-ifs. What if she dozed off and missed her flight? What if she slipped an knocked herself out? What if some crazy bloke sneaked in and... *shudder*. I wanted to call my mobile that was with her, but how? All they had that can call outside was fonkard payphones and their business center/landmark didn't sell cards to use on it.
Long version of the story removed from here to save you from boredom
So abandoning monetary efficiency I found a way to get my mom's mobile number and then found out that my sister left the hotel 30 mins before I arrived and barely made it to the flight. Up to this moment, I'm still flummoxed about the 'privacy' and 'hasn't checked out' bits of the story.

I was tired, sweaty and pissed so walked back to grab lunch then head home. With a determined indifference to what was happening in the world I could have missed it, but I didn't. An angelic phantasm appeared to my left. My heart skipped a couple of beats then raced like mad. Such brilliance! The old me would have shied away and regretted it for the rest of my life. I did want to be reborn, with a love for life and enjoy it as if there is no tomorrow. I fiddled and checked the 350D's settings and made a beeline towards her. I waited for her to finish her yo, stepped up and said:

"Excuse me..." she turns to me with an encouraging smile.
"Can I take a picture with you?"
"Sure :)"
Fiddle, fiddle. Click.
"Thank you :3"
Then I walked away.

With wobbly knees but giddy happy, I realized later that I got to screw up this magical moment. [tech] I prefer having just the center AF point active instead of all 7 of them[/tech]. So the trees behind us is in focus and we are a bit soft and blurred. But heck, this is a success for my courage, screw the perfect photo :P

When September Ends

SCU
A friend recently described me as a Self-Contained Unit(SCU). The term was not familiar, but it more or less explains itself. I don't know what is worse, that it was somehow accurate or that it is used to describe houses. Is being at that level of independence really a good thing? I love the feeling of being needed, but why can't I extend that same courtesy/opportunity to other people? Probably shows that I am a Taurus born in the year of the sheep: stubborn and bullheaded. Baaaaaaaaaaa.

Sheep simply want a bit of peace. They enjoy carrying on with life in their own quiet, individual way, content to be in the middle of it all rather than to be leading it. Sheep are quiet and calm people. They enjoy cultural things and focus much of their energy on artistic hobbies. Sheep are easygoing and relaxed, happy to be going with the flow.

THE EARTH SHEEP 19l9 AND 1979

The Earth element gives the Sheep a grounded effect. Although he struggles with a lack of self-confidence, this Sheep is a very stable person. They are independent and practical, leaning more towards conservancy than liberality. An Earth Sheep’s family is his most important asset and he spends his life working hard to provide for his loved ones. Earth Sheep are born with a joy for life that generally becomes infectious as you get to know him.

TAUREAN SHEEP

These Sheep are a bit materialistic and desire much wealth. Although they aren’t money hungry, they do out themselves and their own comfort before everyone else.

from this site

Homecoming
Its been ten years since my batchmates and I stepped out of high school. Feels both like an eternity and a blink of an eye. High School was the first and only time I slept in a dorm, backed out from performing in public, played a guitar, gone into a dodgy theater, kissed by a girl (on the cheek, lame I know), dressed in a suit, used a computer, used an SLR camera, frequented R.Hidalgo, joined a contest, and met my first girlfriend.
Some see HS just as a stage of growth, for me it marked a lot of firsts and even half my life after, brings back fond memories. [pics here]
For the homecoming, I made an AudioVisual Presentation(avp) here. Its around 9mb so leave it to load and just go back to it later(right-click, rewind, play).



Medical Mission
This a was a project initially cooked up by joey and mic, based on simple assumptions: lots of batchmates in the medical field and moderate contacts to pharmaceutical firms. With that and generous contributions from various sources, the mission was underway. RockEd also volunteered to teach kids and parents alike. [pics][joey's pics][mic's pics][leonardo coll's pics]

Knocking out the Philippines
Last time all it took was a ton of jellyfish. This time around, its a direct hit from a storm. That's 30+ hours of black-out, no internet, phone(bayantel) nor mobile(globe). Boo.

Panget's Back
Due to the need to chaperone a client, Blessma is back in Manila. She had to drop by the house earlier than scheduled because my dad in UAE got worried. No texts, internet, movies, games, work. Its been a lousy couple of days.

Deafening Silence, Blinding Darkness
Its been ages since I last experienced this. I'm used to sleeping with scores of LEDs blinking, a couple of fans spinning and 3 7200rpm HDs whirring. Those are the lullabyes that put me to sleep. The blackout robbed me of all of this and left me with such eerie silence and darkness, it almost drove me insane.

I once watched an anime series (PLANETES) where the lead character got lost in space and exhibited a disorder due to trauma (Deep Space Disorder). It manifested itself when the lead was placed in a room deprived of light and sound. He went nutters in a matter of seconds.

I had a ringing noise in my ear, monochrome blurred images playing regardless of my eyes opened or not. I'd be glad to have all the real noise and blinkers back...

Beals-a-bug
We went out to SM MoA to watch "Ant Bully" on IMAX 3D. For an animated film that seemed to be for kids, it had tons of hidden jokes and easter eggs: "Beals-a-bug", the name of the exterminators company is probably a pun for beelzebub. Notable voice actors for me are: Allison Mack as Tiffany(also Chloe from Smallville) and Zach Tyler as Lucas Nickle(also Avatar from Avatar:The Last Airbender)

Just a Tad Bit Too Late...

"If I've known this sooner..." is a phrase I'd like to use for this post.

If you've read my previous entry, you probably think its a lot to spend on ink. You're right... because I just found out a way to cut the cost to 1/3. I won't be popular with HP once I blog about this but hey, being practical is important.

After finishing my printing spree, I came upon this in DataMax@SM san lazaro. It's a Do-it-yourself(DIY) refill kit from Fullmark. Its priced at 390Php (vs 1200) and contains enough ink to refill a cartridge thrice(which is also the reuse limit a of catridge). Ink quality is acceptable so far (paper, photopaper, iron-ons) ; with that many cartidges, I won't need to buy genuines for a while.

disclaimer: I'm neither affiliated nor paid by datamax/fullmark. Such products are still 'try at your own risk'.

Odd Stuff

For me, not being afraid of new things is part of learning. I've accepted rakets, challenges and requests that come my way if only for the slightest chance that I discover something that I did not know before. But for the life of me... I sometimes end up doing some pretty odd things.

Costly Certification
During college, I was asked if I can produce colored certificates. I was able to clear that but it killed my Epson Stylus printer. Should have learned from this XD.

Domestic Help
I recently finished a project with the Department of Foreign Affairs(DFA) and International Labour Organization(ILO) entitled "Protecting Domestic Workers from their Vulnerability to Forced Labour and Trafficking" which is an interactive cd training tool made in Flash. After months and months of content revisions, I was reminded that I had to make 200 copies complete with packaging and a 12-page printed manual. I had difficulty in looking for a printer(offset/publisher) that can do this for me (6 unique color pages @200 copies each~1200sides, is too costly to run). So after busting my wallet for ink cartridge cost, my beloved HP Deskjet 5740 had to bear with me in this foolish attempt at printed production.

8 hp 95 cartridges(1200php each), 3 hp 94 (1000php each) busting a wallet was never this easy

What was I thinking?

Had to hire my cuz (thanks kat!) to help me out with cutting and packaging. It was lauched at the DFA on Aug. 30, 2006 and I'm grateful to them for the experience and the chance to help train those who will help our domestic workers.
Saintly Shirts
My mom requested me to take on a task: Photo Quality Tshirt printing. This guy does not learn, does he? My excuse is: 'these shirts are for priests and religious people'. The order was 80 shirts, and I had a hard time looking for and buying Iron-on transfers. I ended up using 3 brands (HP, ImageFlow Pro and APLI). HP and APLI were acceptable (73 and 70php per sheet respectively) while ImageFlow (63php) was dreadful because it was so thin(the printer kept jamming). The difficult part was the ironing and I wasn't even bad with ironing itself. Some browning occurs if you iron it too long; the print doesn't stick as well if done too quickly. That's an average of 5min per shirt, 1000Watt Iron and full-body weight pressure (200lbs of purely brute brymac XD).

The one on the left is a reject/experiment; center is the Iron-on transfer print; right is the print on the back of the shirt.

Often times reason is abandoned for things like rewards, charity, lessons or blessings. How long will I learn and live like this? For as long as I can I guess...

Humid Dreadful Rain

Soft glow of the overcast sky and green leaves

My first High Dynamic Range(HDR) Photo

HDR of Adrian's shots

I was invited to join Adrian, Josephine and Andy in a PhotoOp at the La Mesa Ecopark. Had fun tagging along with them and talking to Andy about Miyazaki stuff.

It was a good opportunity to try HDR so I took time to compose the shot I wanted. Even with the brute power 'Rebirth' has, creating and editing HDR required me to leave my desk and do something else while it processed all that info. Imagine, an HDR PSD file is 93.3MB! The results are a little gloomy and washed out, but that was the mood as the rain was about to fall. A simpler way to get a better shot would be using graduated nd filter (don't nosebleed now, think tinted eyeglasses). Since I don't have one of those (yet), an HDR attempt is fine.

S is for Seven Years

Together with Mic's blatant slander on my err... unfulfilled desire, she gave me an S to post this:

1. September - Phats and Small feat Earth, Wind and Fire
2. Sets Go Up - Juvenile (OST Need for Speed Most Wanted)
3. Sucked In - Jerk (OST Need for Speed Underground 1)
4. Standing Right Next To Me - Arnee
5. Sugar We're Going Down - Fallout Boy

Comment on this post to receive a random letter from me. You will then be tasked to pick five (5) songs from your computer with titles that begin with that letter. And you are to post the five songs on your journal.

Any takers? :3

Brymac on Ice

There is no such thing as a practice life.

I've been thinking of this simple phrase since I came across it. It has furthered my desire to go out and live life. I'm also slowly taking down walls I probably built through the years. Given the chance, I'll go and try it. The amount of failures can be shadowed by successful attempts, its a matter of probability.

Swedish
I recently got my first formal massage. Aidz and I went on a night photo op, then decided to get one. Around 20 minutes in the sauna, a bath, ate some shabu-shabu then finally 30+ minutes swedish massage. I received a lot of elbows and knees, but all in all it was great. Whatever was causing my stiffneck probably got elbowed away.

Ice Skating
We went to MoA to celebrate Aimee's birthday. Ice Skating was part of the plan so we looked over the rink and weighed our chances against a battalion of kids. I've tried rollerblades now and then so I was brave enough to not use the rink wall. So after three hours, getting extremely wet, falling N times, straining my wrist and getting my hand 'toe-picked'... Ice skating is either not for me or I need tons of more practice.

Photo Op
While in MoA, I took some pics including Kimi's F1 that was on display. [Other pics here]

Like Losing A Friend
I said goodbye to something important. We've been through a lot together and I'm incredibly thankful to her. She held well enough and helped me buy her replacement. Bye, Tsunami(AMD Duron700)...
Here's how my station looks now:

Panography

Thanks to Gail for posting about panography. In a nutshell, its crazy panorama by taking lots of pictures in different orientation. So I present to you my attempt at it.

Would like to try High Dynamic Range Photography next. It is a good wake-up call on how limited dSLRs are compared to the human eye.

Cosplay

Last Sunday, I went to enjoy "O-zine fest" where the National Cosplay Competition was held. Click here for some pics of the event.

Is Pakistan Ready For You?

Mic had the idea of giving Marlon a better send off, so we planned this Friday night out. We thought we wouldn't reach 10 people... final count was 19 :). It was also Joey's birthday (hbd!). Thanks to all who joined us. Pictures are here.

---

Pirated Sunday

I watched Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest with Tubs, Emir and Lea. Johnny Depp ran away again being Jack Sparrow and kept the whole movie interesting.

We went to visit Dingdong at St. Luke's. It's a relief to see him smiling and telling jokes (it could have been the pain relievers though :P). Get well soon :)

[110]: A Wet July So Far

Blogger says that this is my 110th post. Hoorah, I really am a blogger.

I have been quite busy with stuff so excuse that fact that this will be a lengthy post.

Meeting with my cousin

A cousin of mine is studying law in UP Diliman. I decided to meet her (for the first time) during one of her long breaks. She is lively and fun to talk to. We talked about everyday thing and how her studies are coming along. After about an hour we decided to part ways.

Diploma

Since I was already in UP and I had a bit of time to burn, I went to pick-up my diploma. It has been more than 3 years since I graduated but never really found the need to get it.


CPL


Circular Polarizing Filter (1200 Php). I did decide to keep the cost of my photographic equipment to a minimum, knowing that its the person that makes 'great pictures'. Photoshop is amazing enough to replace most filters, but not this one. Polarization basically eliminates reflected/diffused light, removing glare and reflections on surfaces. Below are examples I took myself:


Mall Of Asia

This massive mall is the place to see these days. Being built on dodgy reclaimed land, it is built horizontally because the foundation doesn't seem to be capable of supporting more than 4 floors. It is visually more pleasing than the usual box-type SM buildings. It features 2 walkways/viewing ports that lead to the bay.
People come far and wide to experience its main attraction: an IMAX 3D theater.

Superman Returns on IMAX 3D

Good schedules and seats are hard to come by here. You need to go there to buy a ticket at least a week before you intend to watch. Superman Returns has around 20minutes worth of 3D scenes where you have to wear the special 3D glasses to see objects in the movie float beyond the screen and seem as if they will come at you.

3D scenes were mostly amazing, I enjoyed looking at the barn, the spaceshuttle and the broken boat. I do feel that some 3D time was wasted because they were in shaky situations where you could not appreciate depth or distance. For 350 Php, its a worthwhile experience.

Mini-despedida for Marl

Marl is leaving for Pakistan this Sunday (July 23) so the quattro regulars met up for drinks to give him a small send off. We moved to Bang Coffee afterwards to wait for daybreak. The rest of the pics are here.