Taguro, Eugene, Vincent, and Master Jeremiah battle it out for the right to represent the Philippines in the "Official" Asian Yuu Yuu Hakusho Cosplay Meet.

Someone recently pointed out to me a Malaysian website for the Asia Cosplay Meet (ACM), the Malaysian and Singaporean Final Rounds apparently taking place in July.

The home page on this website states that the countries involved in the Asia Cosplay Meet are Korea, Singapore, the Philippines, and Malaysia.

Let’s skip over the fact that this is the first I’ve heard of this, and I had to hear about it from a foreign website (which begs the questions: Who is in charge of the Philippine leg of this competition, and how was that decided?) The organizers of this event are the Singapore Cosplay Club, infamous for their attempts to copyright the word “cosplay” a few years back.

This is the scummiest domination move in the cosplay world so far that I can think of. As the forums point out, this is akin to copyrighting ‘origami’ or ‘swimming’. Now they’re stating that they’re the ‘Official’ Asia Cosplay Meet.

We Filipinos are no strangers to the deep-seated urge to be ‘recognized’ as the ‘official’ representatives of cosplay of the entire country. But an Official Asia Cosplay Meet that doesn’t include oh I don’t know, maybe Japan or China?

Then again, I’m an Erisian Pope. For those of you unfamiliar with the subject, one of the tenets of Discordianism is that anyone who declares himself an Erisian Pope is a Erisian Pope, because every man, woman, and child on the planet is an Erisian Pope.

Maybe that’s how this entire ‘official’ business works. All you have to do to be ‘official’ is call yourself ‘official’ and you are. Neat trick, that.

So who exactly IS the Official Philippine representative to the Official Asian Cosplay Meet? What does it matter?

Not long ago, a genuinely likable boy who went by the handle Lukeywes1234 was just an ordinary young YouTube account holder. At least before the /b/tards over at 4chan decided that he was their new king, mass subscribing to his channel and posting tribute videos like the one above.

Soon Lukeywes1234 was topping Google search results, and his subscribers shot up from a measly 11 into the hundreds, then the thousands.

The higher-ups at YouTube decided that all the attention Lukeywes1234 was getting from the friendly sociopaths from /b/ meant that he warranted an account suspension, possibly as a preventive measure.

They couldn’t have been more wrong.

This is the poster they've been distributing. Everything an anon needs to know before participating is spelled out.

The /b/tards have declared that tomorrow, January 6th, 2010, is YouTube Porn Day. This is what happens when you mess with their King. Lukeywes1234. He likes Mario and doesn’t afraid of ghosts. They told him he could be anything…

…So he became a god.

Popcorn, anyone?

Yay more Haruhi! Wait, what do you mean 'More of the SAME Haruhi'? I thought they did that with Endless Eight already!

What the hell. Right after I rant about how profiteering suits suck any medium dry, Kadokawa decides that the best thing to do with their immensely-profitable Haruhi light novel series is to reissue the series… but with new, connected covers, and call it a “Rebirth”.

From Sankaku Complex:

Kadokawa has announced an exciting new “rebirth” in the Haruhi novel series which will allow fans the heaven sent opportunity to buy them all over again.

This “rebirth” takes the form of a limited edition of the original novels, with an exciting new cover by Noizi Ito. Buying all nine volumes will allow the devoted fan the ecstasy of beholding a new picture by lining them all up.

I’m guessing this is the print version of the Endless Eight fiasco. Or as DeathCrunch quips, Haruhi is the new FF7. Or Twilight.

Longtime readers know how ticked off I was about Haruhi’s Endless Eight fiasco. Even though KyoAni never reused animation throughout the arc, I kept thinking they were being cheap, lazy bastards, except I thought they were keeping the money for themselves.

I guess they were saving the time, money, and effort for this instead. The character designs look identical to the TV series, except more detailed. Yuki in particular looks amazing, almost alive, which is more than one can usually say about Yuki. The animation itself is fluid and beautiful to watch, and they’ve captured an atmosphere I can only describe as ‘melancholy’, an adjective that hasn’t really applied to the series except for one episode, Someday in the Rain, the last episode of the first season, which is actually one of my favorites. The comparison of the wacky hijinks of the TV series with the quiet, introspective feel of the movie reminds me of another wildly-successful series that used this to great effect, Urusei Yatsura.

Long before Haruhi never wanted summer to end, Lum dreamed of the day before the Tomobiki Culture Fest.

Each thirty-minute installment of UY was concentrated insanity, but each feature-length film (with the notable exception of the first film) was a deep treatment of a particular subject. The second movie, Beautiful Dreamer, directed by Mamoru Oshii (of Ghost in the Shell fame) is my favorite anime film of all time, and dealt with the idea of an endlessly-looping period of time more deftly in two hours than Endless Eight ever could with eight full episodes. (If you don’t believe me, watch the first part of the movie here.)

As far as Haruhi goes, after Endless Eight I felt like KyoAni had dropped the ball, and I wasn’t as excited to see the next installment as I used to be.

Now I watch this clip and I realize: I miss Haruhi. And I want her to shine again.

Funny, the kids don't look a day over ten...

From boingboing:

Twenty years ago today, the first full-length episode of The Simpsons — known as The “Christmas Special” — aired on television. This episode was originally intended to be show number 8, but ended up being first after a series of production glitches and switches. You can find streamable copies around the internets.

The first episode of the Simpsons I ever watched was the one with Blinky the three eyed fish, on the now-defunct FEN (Far East Network) that used to broadcast out of the US bases before they pulled out of the country. Before that, I would receive “Don’t have a cow, man!” and “Ay caramba!” shirts from my cousins in the States, and had no idea what the heck they were referring to. Or as Homer would say, “D’oh!”

From http://www.flickr.com/photos/kogakure/546535952/

From boingboing, from Cory Doctorow:

Electronic Frontiers Australia have posted their authoritative condemnation of the Australian government’s plan to impose mandatory, national filtering on the Australian Internet (like the filters used in Iran, Syria, China, and other repressive regimes). EFA points out that this national censorship plan will do little to curb child pornography and crime (because people who seek out that sort of thing can always get around filters), but it will give unaccountable government bureaucrats the power to secretly and arbitrarily hide information from Australians.

(more…)

Stay tuned.

Attention: Saturn Rite will terminate in 12 hours. Morningstar Net Access restored.

Normal service will be resumed shortly. That is all.

Mangaholix Manga Mania 2009 on November 21-22 at the World Trade Center!

Some of you may remember Mangaholix from my Komikon 2009 post, especially with that awesome sketch I scored from Kriss Sison.

It turns out Mangaholix has its own con in the works, called Mangaholix Manga Mania Con 2009 (or M3Con09 for… short. Relatively.)

I noted to Maoi that Pol Medina Jr. (of Pugad Baboy fame) is one of the special guests at the Meet and Greet, so she’s definitely coming with me to attend. In my case, aside from the obvious comic book geekery and the chance to meet a lot of movers and shakers, I noticed that Taken By Cars is on their band list, and I’m a big Taken By Cars fan. One of their draws is the nonstop music and the band list is chockful of bands I like.

Oh, and apparently there are 4 cosplay contest too. Just in case you’re interested in that sort of thing.

Here are the details from their Official Poster:

Mangaholix Manga Mania 2009
Nov. 21-22, 2009
10:00am to 8:00pm
World Trade Center’s East Pavillion

Over ten thousand people, hundreds of cosplayers and over P50,000 worth of prizes—the last two Mangaholix MangaMania Conventions (or M3Cons) were undeniably among the largest events of its kind in the country and have quickly become a well known red letter affair among the anime, manga and gaming fans in the Philippines. It has set numerous benchmarks for its unique character and innovative segments, making it both an edifying celebration of cultural exchange and diversity, and a fun, action-packed fete of good music and wild costumes. This year, the folks behind Mangaholix Magazine are doing it again and they’re pushing the envelopes in all directions.

Featuring:
Special Guests
Pol Medina (Pugad Baboy), Elmer Damaso (Cat’s Trail), Carlo Vergara (Zsa Zsa Zaturnnah), Chester “Elpinoy” Ocampo (Freedom Formula), Stephen Segovia (Dark Wolverine) and Vinson “Bleedman” Ngo (Sugar Bits)

Live Performances by 30 Awesome, Rocktastic Bands…
KJWAN > THE OUT OF BODY SPECIAL> FASPITCH
SUBSCAPULAR > TYPECAST > FAIRLIGHT MADISON
TAKEN BY CARS > TECHY ROMANTICS > SALAMIN
ENEMIES OF SATURN > EPHESUS > ASTROJUAN
DJ DUBIOUS >BLUE BOY BITES BACK > THE KAGAWS
URBANDUB > INTOLERANT >THE AMBASSADORS
NYCTINASTY > ANGULO > GASULINA > SEVERO
SWITCH > HILERA > DRIP > DECEMBER AVENUE
TONIGHT WE SLEEP> THE NAMELESS HEROES
DISTRESSED >BUTCHERCONS

CONTESTS:
Art Contests
Global Warning
Art Arena Sketchmatch
Art Arena Ten Strings

4 Cosplay-related Contests
Cosplay Collision Ringside
Cosplay Collision Clan Wars
Cosplay Collision Wild Card
Art Collision Photo Finish

Anime Song Guessing Game
Otaku Open

For more information visit here
or contact us at m3con09@groundbreakers.com.ph

See you guys there!

Ondoy drenches Metro Manila with the heaviest rainfall in four decades.

I know this isn’t what I usually write about. Please bear with me.

When I was twelve years old a typhoon hit my hometown. Since my siblings and I were children at the time we saw the flood in the same light as many of the kids who were playing in the flood waters after the rains lightened up — no school, instant swimming pools, watching the adults scramble to pile furniture on top of each other in an effort to save as much as they could.

I remember being evacuated, sitting on the shoulders of our driver while the water rose up to his neck, watching dogs paddle along. I remember sitting in a fire truck, wearing a clear plastic raincoat a fireman lent me, when the gravity of what had just happened hit me. All our things were now underwater, all the books that I loved reading, all our wooden furniture swelling with all the soaked-up floodwater.

It prepared me and my family for the other disasters that followed in the next few years — the earthquake of 1990, the eruption of Mt. Pinatubo.

It’s one thing to watch a natural disaster happening on TV. It’s another to be right there when it is happening all around you.

The victims of Ondoy need help. And not the half-hearted help certain presidents’ sons have been extending, but whatever you can spare.

Here’s a list of places you can give donations, care of Spot.ph:

Petron
All stations are Department of Social Welfare and Development drop off points

Phlippine National Red Cross
METROBANK
Port Area Branch
Peso Acct.: 151-3-041-63122-8
Dollar Acct.: 151-2-151-00218-2
Type of Acct. : SAVINGS
Swift Code: MBTC PH MM

BANK OF THE PHIL. ISLANDS
Port Area Branch
Peso Acct.: 4991-0010-99
Type of Account: CURRENT

BANK OF THE PHIL. ISLANDS
UN Branch
Dollar Acct.: 8114-0030-94
Type of Account: SAVINGS
Swift Code: BOPI PH MM
For your donations to be properly acknowledged, please fax the bank
transaction slip at nos. +63.2.527.0575 or +63.2.404.0979 with your
name, address and contact number.

For online donations you may also visit the website at www.redcross.org.ph.

San Juan
La Salle Greenhills students have set up a donation stand inside Unimart, in front of the alcohol/liquor area.
They will receive all cash and in-kind donations to be transferred to LSGH Gate 2.

Quezon City
Caritas Manila office
Relief goods can also be brought Radio Veritas at Veritas Tower West Ave. corner EDSA, Quezon City
Tel No. 9257931-40.

Ateneo de Manila University
Loyola Heights, Katipunan Avenue. Drop off at the MVP Lobby or at the Cervini dorms. Call 426-6001. Or contact 09176312423 and 09177035357

Our Lady of Pentecost Parish
12 F. Dela Rosa corner C. Salvador Sts., Loyola Heights, Quezon City
Tel. Nos. 434-2397, 929-0665

Camp Aguinaldo
For donations of relief goods, please deliver them to CRS Office, Camp Aguinaldo, Quezon City. or call 0915-1162853. Food, Medicine, Clothes and other relief items are much needed.
A collection point for relief goods was also set up at the GHQ gym in Camp Aguinaldo (near the Soldier’s mall, past Gate 3).

Makati

San Antonio Parish, Forbes Park
Accepting all kinds of relief goods.
Contact JJ Yulo or Mike Yuson.

Power Plant Mall Stores: Myron’s, Team Manila, ARANAZ, MOONSHINE, LUCA
Now accepting donations of food, water, clothing and medicines, no cash pls. Call 898-1702 for Power Plant Mall.

Mandaluyong City
SM Megamall: Smart branches, Papemelroti store (no cash)

Shangri-La Plaza Mall: LUCA
Now accepting donations of food, water and medicines.

Relief centers also tend to be shorthanded, so even if you don’t have anything to donate, you can lend a hand by dropping by personally.

Let’s make a difference this time.

EDIT: A group of Atenean volunteers calling themselves ORCA have put up a blog for their collection drive here. Every little bit helps!

Radio Free Morningstar on Nullspace Aetherband 32

Hi guys! I was playing with my graphics programs today and came up with this wallpaper for Radio Free Morningstar, from my webcomic The Vigilant! It depicts Jaden Stormchaser’s satellite pirate radio station, the Morningstar, hovering above Central City in geosynchronous Nullspace orbit, rendered in glorious ray-tracer-ific 3D! A translucent bubble of Free Nullspace, it gives Sentinel Jaden a 360 degree view, perfect for spotting incursions from the Far Reaches!

Available in 1440×900 and 1024×768 flavors! Download yours today!