So you’re a Filipino and you want to be a hit on Nico Nico Douga. Which of these choices is the right way to do it?

1. Work your way up an established hierarchy of fandom that is ruled by wannabe oligarchs who have no intention of stepping down from the only social arena they can feel LIKE A BOSS in;
2. Gain the backing of local corporations and commercial backers who have no idea how the fandom works and are only interested in making a quick buck off of your geek cred; or
3. Just post the damned video.

Go on. Guess.

Note: I’m aware that this is essentially the Pinoy version of the Chinese Backstreet Boys video from a few years ago. But if derivative work wasn’t allowed in fandom, Hatsune Miku wouldn’t be holding a leek all the time. Think about it.

We Were Not Prepared

Some of my friends decided to treat me to the 6PM viewing of Sucker Punch at Eastwood Cinema 2, with the intention of helping me get over the funk I’ve been in since last week. Instead I came out of the theater feeling like someone had taken a dump in my head the size of a birthday cake.

Ksolaris drew this comic to commemorate the occasion. This is a fairly accurate depiction of our reactions.

(From Multipleegos)

On one hand, listening to Noynoy speak at the Ayala Foundation USA Gala made me realize that he is much more charismatic and engaging a speaker in person than he is on TV. On the other hand, there is something unnerving about cameramen and reporters swarming all over an Aquino on a PAL airliner headed back to Manila.

Some of you may have seen the old Saving Sally trailer from a few years back, from before the film was picked up by a French production outfit. Here’s the new one! For those of you who didn’t know, the screenplay of Saving Sally was written by my sister Charlene and directed by her friend Avid. It was re-shot after post-production had already started, with Rhian Ramos as the new Sally. Let’s hope it gets released soon so we can all see it!

“I haven’t cried this much since Optimus Prime died in Transformers the Movie.”

The amazing thing about this video is how well the two anime fit together! Although the idea of Gendo joining the SOS Brigade is scary.

Can’t wait for the next episode (if there is one) where Yuki and Rei meet each other!

It’s amazing how on the money Monty Python were about politicians in general, considering they were writing in the early Seventies about politicians in the United Kingdom.

I first heard about Setsubun no hi from an episode of Urusei Yatsura, where Ataru drives Lum and Ten-chan out of his house by throwing beans at them. It’s a Japanese festival celebrated on February 3 every year, where people throw beans to drive out the evil spirits of the old year and the disease spirits of the new year. Of course, I’m not sure I would throw beans at Lum. I don’t really want to drive her away, and even if I did she would just zap me. Plus I’d have to smuggle beans into the house just like Ataru and Shinobu.

Note in particular how Shinobu is trying to quietly banish Ataru’s inner demons of lust.

Oni wa soto! Fuku wa uchi!

Laser Pointer Vision. I wasn't looking man, honest!

I recently discovered Superuseless Superpowers, a blog devoted to, you guessed it, really useless superpowers, ranging from Polarrhoids (the ability to crap out what you are looking at when you blink, which is a lot), to ∞-ray vision (the uncontrollable ability to see through everything, meaning you see nothing as a result).

Check it out!

Here’s another of Monty Python’s famous sketches, the Hungarian Phrasebook sketch, featuring the always brilliant John Cleese as the clueless Hungarian, Terry Jones as the patient (male) tobacconist, and once again Graham Chapman as a clueless authority figure, this time a policeman with sharp hearing, but without a patrol car.

My nipples explode with delight!

This is Minoru’s famous tsundere rant from Lucky Channel Episode 10! Here he passionately decries what he perceives as the corruption of the definition of the term ‘tsundere‘ from its original meaning implying a function of time into a character type who is hostile on the outside but affectionate on the inside.

Don’t laugh. It may sound like nitpicking to you, but this sort of thing is important to many people. Especially obsessive-compulsives, like otaku.