Ate China...Ano Ba Talaga?

Nakakalito ang mga Chinese na yan. They imposed a fishing ban on Scarborough Shoal yet they sent almost a hundred ships, carting away giant clams and corals as fast as they can. They are systematically ravaging the ecosystem of the area...and for what? Wala pa akong alam na Chinese herbal or traditional medicine na pampatigas o pampatagal sa kama na gawa sa coral (Most of their traditional medicine are always 'to keep the Yang up'...kahit yung kinuha mo e pampaluwag ng hininga o panglaban sa asthma, laging me side effect na titigas etits mo for 35 days or kahit 80 times ka nang labasan e uhaw ka pa sa sex).

Well, seriously, China has been advocating one thing and doing the other at the same time. They asked the Philippines to stand down, but they in turn sent ships upon ships in the area. They even had the gall to hold naval drills on the area as they asked other nations to stand down. And they keep pointing out that they've always been doing these naval excercises. So bakit wala sa balita ng international press yung drills nila for the past years? Kahit anong nation sa buong mundo e kapag gumawa ng naval excercises, news agad yon kahit sa tabloids.

This only presents one thing, walang isang salita ang Chinese government.

They bully others into doing what they order the world to do under the guise of national or diplomatic policy, but the actions they take are very opposite on what they preach. Hypocites? Or just plain greedy liars? They are like the doped up addict friend that you have, that you always end up believing their promises in a hope that they chang their ways and actually are telling the truth. Well guess what, China has always been playing on the sentiments  of everybody. They are playing the world for a fool.

Now they are saying that the naval excercises are just a drill and not a practice into invading another country (a South East Asian country with the area they are doing it in). Maniniwala pa ba kayo?

The Red Dawn is Approaching...Wake up AFP!!!!

China recently took steps to ' “accelerate its transformation and modernization in a sturdy way, and make extended preparations for military combat in order to make greater contributions to safeguard national security”. They are now gearing up towards war... with the whole South East Asian nations.

The questionable purchase and retrofit of a former Soviet aircraft carrier by China generates concern with many countries. At a time where the region is divided on a particular island groups off the coast of Palawan.

Its common sense that national security involves defending its territories, established or disputed alike. This is proclaimed amidsts rising tension within the the Southeast Asian communities about the Spratly Islands, an area claimed to be rich in gas and oil. While neighboring countries stake claims to various islands near their territorial waters, China claims the whole island group as her own (if that's the case, the whole island of Luzon should also be inside China's territory, since their 'territory' reaches that far).

Its known that as other countries raced to fill their claims and populate them, China wasted no time in setting up military bases and increased naval presence (sometimes at the expense of the fishermen of Palawan...which is so much closer to the group of islands than China).

If China attacks, we cannot depend on the UN because China, as a member of the security council, has the power to veto any resolution the group of nation passes. So if the UN makes a resolution making China's attack on Philippine sovereignty illegal, China will just veto it, and the UN will do nothing.

So there's no one the Filipinos can depend to but themselves.

And here lies the problem. With almost the entire defense budget spent on the AFP, the Navy and Airforce are left with nothing but scraps to divide among themselves. Even though a lot of political analysts had expressed the need to further develop out naval and air power (also due to the fact that with a nation of islands, we need a larger navy and air force to defend our boarders), a bulk of that money, from taxes, are somewhat used to purchase weapons that 'happens' to appear in the rebel's hands...or to buy properties in the US (where generals and politicians can easily claim asylum and live in the lap of luxury. Yeah, you better claim asylum bitches, cause both Chinese and Filipinos will tear your heads off!!!). What will be left behind are the valiant soldiers that the generals and politicians use as cannon fodders and scapegoats.

I think this move by China is sparked by the growing cooperation and joint treaties with neighboring South East Asian countries for exploration and mining the resources of the Spratlys. And since China claims the island group 'all or nothing', expect a number of undocumented encounters between the countries within the South China Sea.

So beware, beware...the approaching Red Dawn.

M.I.L.F. ???

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Radio shall never die...

With the closing of the most prominent rock station in the Philippines, NU107 (107.5 on the FM dial) , which carried the torch of promoting new and cutting edge rock music for the last 23 years, a lot of messages and topics flared the message boards and social network sites, but there was this message that hit me, flared me up if you will. It said that we are at an era where radio is reduced to a community of DJs sharing and listening to each other, in this age of digital music players and music on demand sites and streamers.

I say nay...

Not a lot of people has access to these kinds of music distribution. The upper and middle upper elite who are in the know or who has access to these sort of things cannot discount the masses and their preference. Radio has been a media which has been around for almost 2 centuries and has been overcoming boarders. And new songs that you load to these digital music players has to get introduced first in those stations. The internet has done a good job of introducing new acts but the delivery to the masses still depends on radio airplay.

Everytime you ride a public transport, enter a local eatery, a small scale shop...its is the humble radio who provides ambient music, entertainment and information to the masses. Only those shops with pirated MP3s and audio CDs are blaring out those digital music format from their worn out, over pumped speakers. Blasting R&B or Techno music on a 30 watt speaker with no subwoofer at full volume? ...please... There should be a city ordinance to wipe off that kind of noise pollution that puts even the loudest horn on an EDSA bus to shame.

And with cheaper and cheaper portable MP3 flooding in from China, the lowly transistor reciever is still the most accessible tool with the less fuzz and less requirement to work.

Now I'm not bashing on new formats of electronic music distribution. I welcome it. My band does the same. But we never undermine the far reaching arm of radio. We still think its an integral part of the music reaching a wider audience. Of spreading the message to a wider spectrum that you shall ever know.

(screen capture by JP Reyes)

Japanimation: Store for 2nd hand Goods from Japan

I heard through a friend that there's this magical place where there are second hand books, manga, magazines and toys from Japan being sold on the cheap, in fact, he got his picture books of some idols for a measy price of Php100 each. My friend said this place is called Japanimation, a second hand goods store in Quezon City.

I searched the web and found the one and only viable link through a blog. The place is beside the Sto.Kristo Chapel at Road 20, past Congressional road, in Quezon City. It was described as a warehouse with the goods bundled together in boxes or shelves according to their type. Like in other warehouse outlets, its up to you to look for the goods you need. They are not arranged in any order except for their type. So you have to spend some time shifting through the boxes and shelves while looking for that special item that strikes your fancy. And thanks to that post, we were able to prepare the things we need after looking through dusty containers.

The place is reminiscent of various recycle shops that sprouted around Tokyo during the slow decline in the economy. As various electronics are discarded for the new ones, the old ones are collected, or sold, to these recycle shops, a bit reconditioned, and sold at a lower price...much lower. Let's put it this way, I was able to purchase a portable CD player for Php200, MD player for Php100 and Japan release CDs of various Japanese and US artists for Php50.

(racks of J-pop CD's...one day is not enough to sift through all of them)

There are a lot of shoes and clothes on the store front. Just behind them are shelves of second hand audio and video electronics as well as those LD's from the early 90's ( so all you equipment freaks out there who still have their LD players, this is one of the few places where you can get good titles). There are also game console controllers and some old hand held games. The inner warehouse contains the old and recent vinyl records (a nice collection at that), along with music instruments (I saw a Japanese koto there too) and some of the more larger electrical equipment. most of the toys you see sold at conventions are located on the store front connected to the inner warehouse. It has shelves and shelves of figurines, toys, costumes and more.

My son was excited about the boxes of up-to-scale replicas of automatic firearms and hand guns. These air-soft pellet guns are so realistic, up to the magazine release, the cocking mechanisms, and you can put the small plastic bullet replicas on the revolvers. Those were soooo neat. The AR-15 and M4 Carbine replicas goes for Php1800 and Php1300 respectively. Don't think about using them on playing in air-soft courses since they are single pump action type...not those automatic types.

I, on the other hand, was excited with shelves upon shelves of J-pop cds and magazines. I think one day is not enough to look though all the stuff they have in there. Remember that all of these are not arranged in any particular order, so its hard to find what you want specifically. You have to dig though bins and bins of CDs and books.

(volumes of "EVA Slot" are available...)

Looking though their printed material, they have a large collection of Japanese style and culture publications, notably the 'kogaryu' and 'sentaa guy' magazines...along with a few music and car magazines, concert picture books, movie production notes and manuals. For the fans of the Evangelion series, I saw a lot of EVA SLOT mags. Sorry for the legion of Gundam followers, but I got all the GUNDAM DATA FILE mags I could find. If you're looking for some R18 or hentai comics, there are a few. I myself got a fan comic for Gunslinger Girl...featuring Claes.

(just a few of the items I was able to get)

But amidst all the excitement, there is one thing that I was disappointed in. I was told that the items sold here are sold at really low prices, specially the toys and the figurines. But it seems that the owners have wised up and raised the prices...a lot...that they are now at par with shops in malls. I even got to talk with some of the patrons who frequented this place for a long time. Even they noticed the sudden rise in the prices of the figurines. From Php15, it was raised to Php50 each. And the polaroid camera the blogger was talking about which was bought for Php150 is not at least Php250. The main selling point lEft, for me, is that you get Japan quality goods, rather than the 'Divisoria' items sold at a much higher price. And it holds a lot of unique Japan items.

I'm not as excited as before but I still plan to return next month in anticipation for their next batch of goods.

Segregate...diversify...with 'Food is an Adventure'

I was thinking...

Recently, I am spending more time on culinary adventures than my previous stint in bar hopping, gigging, slamming at clubs and shit...

so now I decided to seperate my food articles to my new blog "Food Is An Adventure"

I will also be reposting all my food articles there...

Juse to keep things in order...I do have a lot of intrests that even I can't keep up.

Its still a work in progress, though...

Akira Jimbo: A Hell of a Drummer

My boss gave me a link almost a year ago about a great drummer named Akira Jimbo. I only got to follow up on the link today and I must say, he kicks ass.

The Youtube link, taken from an NHK program, shows the video where he explains about his equipment that enables him to be a one man band...using only his drum set..

signal pick-ups placed in various parts of his monsterous drum kit enables him to play various synth music instruments as he plays the drums.  You got to marvel at his presence of mind and focus as he plays.

And such a pleasant and funney personality he has.

Anime: Dance in the Vampire Bund

I found an interesting anime in the web the other day. Its entitled "Dance in the Vampire Bund". Unlike most of the animes based on the vampire lore, it has a single twist of its own; Mina Tepes, the decendant of Vlad II (therefore the princess of all vampires) decided to expose their kind to the world and plans to create a country for vampires off the coast of Tokyo Bay called 'The Bund". She wants the vampires to coexist with the humans, to the dismay of other groups, human and non-human alike.

Accompanying her is Akira, an amnesiac-student-by-day werewolf who swore to protect Mina forever.

The first episode was a doozy, I didn't like it that much but the story left me in anticipation for the next episodes. Although a serious romance-action anime, it has its share of goofy parts. Also, it has a lot of 'lolita' aspect woven into it as Akira has grown from boyhood while Mina stayed almost the same (I was a bit surprised about the 'puting the lotion on a nude adolescent vampire princess' portion in the second episode.

Its still a good anime to watch, as it is still an ongoing series.

In the Eye of the 'Metal Storm'

A terrfying ballistic weapon capable of firing at least 1 million rounds per minute. With its current 96 round configuration, it takes less than a second to fire its entire complement, delivering it entirely on the target. Behold the awesome ferocity of the 'Metal Storm'.

I incidentally found this weapon system in YouTube a few weeks ago as I was loooking into new weapon systems. Its a metal box with 9 barrels in 3x3 configuration, or 16 barrels in a 4x4 configuration. The munitions are lined up in one barrel and fired one by one via electrical trigger. It works on the same principle as the Roman candle where as the first projectile fires, it burns the charge for the next one. The difference is, the firing mechanish is precise enough to encable a single shot for all its load. Not only does it fire bullets but also launch multiple grenades, as a video from the Australian army show.

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Metal Storm firing at 1,000 rpm

Though the development of the system has had its share of funding problems, I still think it has a lot of application and be a possible replacement for some defensive and offensive weapon systems.

grenade launcher configuration

One example is the smoke grenade dispenser mounted on a lot of models of tanks. The Metal Storm would have more capacity and increase its defensive capability.

Another example is for the multiple missle launcher (AT-6 Spiral with its 9K114 Shturm or 9M114 Kokon missles) on any of the the Russian Mi-24 variants, known throughout the world as the flying tank, or simply the Hind. With its lighter configuration, this system could increase the payload two-fold.

But since there is a restriction on the transfer of such weapon technology, its up to the Americans and the Australians to develop a carrier for this weapon system.

As this system is already referred to in many novels and movies. As many are named in Wikipedia, I suddenly remembered the English movie 'Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy', where there's a striking resemblance to its concept with the gut mounted primary weapon for the Vorgon soldiers.

the lovable Vorgons from 'The Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy'

Helpful steps in Courtship

I found this interesting post from laurganism.com. Its a insightful and humorous approach in laying down the rules for courtship.

Check it out in:

http://laurganism.com/2009/03/01/how-i-got-girlfriended-in-under-five-minutes/

Launch of Flippish.com at Fiama Bar

Along the dead stretch of Jupiter street, just past Paseo de Roxas, lies the upscale bar of Fiama (not to be confused with Fiamma of New York). This trendy nightspot is the venue for the official launch of the first Filipino webtv called Flippish last July 2. The name is derived from the 'flip' moniker usually heard in the US about anything Filipino.

The evening's program was opened with the performance by The Indios, one of the first band to be featured in LSS. Free booze sponsored by The Bar was flowing amidst the introduction of the people and hosts behind Flippish and features about their present and future programs.

me and my wife enjoying a tasty mix of The Bar Lemon and Lime Gin with Sprite

The people of Creative Minds, Inc. brought about this concept of a Filipino internet based TV channel to cater to the need to provide quality Filipino media content in the web.

At the forefront of this new form of media, Flippish.com has a wide range of cutting edge progams. From comedy (Direk...my fave program), reality shows (Social Experiment), lifestyle shows (Girl Next Door, Weekend Warriors) and a whole lot more. It also has its own music video program called LSS (Last Song Syndrome) where the bands of the Rubber Duckie family are featured (even my very own HedgeZero).

Rubber Duckie senior partners Dean and Jamil

This webtv channel comes at a time when Filipinos across the world still want to keep in touch with the current pulse of the people, without restrictions and boundaries.

I-Ray bassist Mastey and Free Fish drummer Tops horsing around

Me and Ryan's cousin, Edward. Ryan's here somewhere...

How the Community Channel Should Have Ended

'Allo netizens...

last night I looked around youtube for videos of military engagements taken by soldiers, then I got bored, I looked at the main page and saw what was popular.

First I checked out this "How it should have ended" by Hishe. Its a collection of humorous animated shorts that shows how some of popular movies should have ended. The animation is good, a definite fit for its format. You should definitely check it out. Its hard to pick a favorite...but I do love the 'Beowulf' bit...hehehehe...manical at first, then he softens up...then becomes emotional, crying while jamming Grendel's arm at the door. Then his death scenes...herk herk herk...sooo hilarious.

Next is the "Community Channel" by Natalie. It seems this one has a huge following. Well who could blame them, the shear amount of random thoughts/ insights/ peeves/ observations, jam packed in her talk show/ video blog/ one-woman movie production is just a joy to watch... like a ramblings of a mad scientist...or of a religious fundamentalist...hehehehehe...what the heck am I saying? I guess what I'm trying to say is her show is like a rapid fire assault on the brain...fast paced...funny...and makes sense...I think...

Hope you check em out, tell me what you think.

Review (Net Movie): Batman Dead End

While looking at colonial marines at wikipedia, it led to looking at aliens, then to Batman versus Aliens, then this little link sparked my curiosity. A fan film made by Sara Collora, where Batman is pitted against both the aliens and the predator.


After downloading the film (its only 8 mins long), I was first amused with the costume. A tight-fit bluish gray shirt with a bat logo. Then the black leather gloves and boots which were quite decent. But when the costume is set against its dark alleyway backdrop, they seem to intertrwine greatly. The actors were good in potraying their roles. As Batman was potrayed as n angst ridden vigilante and Joker as a looney psychopath.


The story starts with Batman going after Joker after he escaped from Arkham, in the alley where they exchange fists and comments, the Joker is pulled up in a classic 'gotcha!!' fashion by the predator who was hanging upside-down. What followed was a struggle with an alien wherein the predator kills it. Then a fight between Batman and the Predator ensues. As Batman was about to deliver the death blow, the Predator laughs and 3 more predators appear, while Batman faces them in anticipation for more fighting, aliens appear from the shadows behind him. Then the screen fades. The End.


What I liked about this short-film was the way Batman was potrayed, an ominous figure of the dark. I especially liked the scene where he jumps from the building and lands on the alleyway. Then a aerial view shows the cape fully folded out with Batman in the center, then as he stands up, the cape follow him up. Like a shadowed figure rising from the darkness where it came from.


You can download the movie at http://www.collorastudios.com/projects/bde/bdemain.htm