"In my Land:Sample Chapter"

"In my Land:Sample Chapter"

by:

Virgilio F. De leon Jr. MD

Where are the lights of the west? The Wall of the east? the stranger asked them.

what the hell are you talking about?

The refineries and the Natural gas extracting plants in the west give off a light that you could see even here in manila and why are you talking to me in Tagalog only? where is your Uni Translator?

Uni translator? (even more weird questions)

The Uni translator allows us to speak in the languages that we normally interact with. It was enacted that each child by the age of 7 would have an implant that would allow them to learn languages more efficiently and to better allow them to talk to other nationalities. Since the Philippines has very deep Western Spanish Roots and Eastern Influences like China and Japan aside from our Malay genes we have incorporated that into our language and culture. why am I even lecturing you on this every child by the age of 10 is familiar with this.

Listen buddy you are not making sense. Are you some sort of Chinese spy? With the tensions building up between the Philippines and china its not unheard of to send people like you?

Chinese spy? what the hell are you talking about? The Chinese are our allies! Since we were able to resolve the issue of spratlys and the Senkaku islands for them we have been trading with them for hundreds of years.

Hundred of years? How the hell did the Philippines resolve that issue when china has been bullying us for years?

Simple. We bought the islands and put Military installations on them.

And china didn't get mad at that?

Get mad? we were looking after their best assets in that region of Asia. We made the wall in the East Philippine sea so that there would be no dispute and divided the profits after drilling the sea. 

Huh? Where did we get the money for that? 

By all the natural gas profits from the Natural Gas and Oil mines in the East Phil sea of course. We own the latest drilling techs and refineries.

He just had to whistle at that. "You are one crazy person Sir"

Me? You haven't even brought me to the nearest Balanggay? I demand to see a Sultan!

Like the ones in Mindanao? 

No. The South doesn't have sultans anymore since the Babaylans took over and demanded that all the South that hasn't been touched by technology be converted into Nature Farms and Shrines for the Anitos.

The Sultans agreed to this transfer reasoning that they would have bigger lands and be closer to the technological action up here in the North and besides there is a lot more space here since the Spires could accommodate thousands when relocated.

Now that is nuts. The Philippines and its politicians simply wont allow that to happen.

Politicians? There are none of those since a singular government already takes care of the whole nation. One of Holo Meeting is all it takes and they are on top of things. I am really confused. Where is your holo wall so I could just contact the Balanggay myself.

More puzzles from this man. What else is he not telling us?

"The Gitrog Monster: You don't want to kiss it but you want it."

"The Gitrog Monster: You don't want to kiss it but you want it."

by:

Virgilio F. De leon Jr.

When you think of Frogs , you think of Kermit and his squawaky voice. You also get the impression that frogs when kissed become handsome princes thanks to a lot of disney brainwashing. Now as magic players we all know that we should not kiss frogs. Not because they could give you warts but for the simple reason that you could turn up like this guy. The Gitrog Monster sure is hungry and one of its favorites snack is real estate. Land. Aside from eating humans and anything smaller than it , it also loves to eat your lands. Just the price you get for having a 6/6 Deathtouch Frog Horror on your side of the board.

Of course The Gitrog Monster does provide for its own meal because you could play an additional land on each of your own turns. It also pulls its own weight because you could draw a new card each time that you a land goes to your graveyard. And the cycle continues. Of course some players think that feeding a land to this Horror is not worth and I understand them , the point after all is to build a solid mana base for all those awesome things that you want to do in the future.

So what if there was a solution to this Land Eating Tax that our Frog Horror demands. It is a land card that comes out in Shadows Over Innistrad as well. The Drownyard Temple.Thanks for the idea Raven Knives. Think about it. If the Drownyard Temple is already in your graveyard you could pay the 3 mana of any color that it requires on the end of your opponents turn and feed it to the Gitrog Monster to satisfy its froggy hunger. You still get to play 2 lands and with more lands it makes it easier to play the 3 mana cost to return the Drownyard temple again and again. For dedicated Golgari EDH decks it is always helpful to have another card drawer. 

Think of the possibilities where you draw cards from Evolving Wilds , Terramorphic Expanse or Fetchlands after you have used them to fetch things. You also get the benefit by having land discarded from your hand or even if it is milled from your library. It seems like a whole lot of card drawing are in store for Golgari players once this is out. You may not want to kiss this particular frog but if it gives you that piece you need to win you might just reconsider it.

"Forgotten Creation: Killer Miller 2016"

"Forgotten Creation: Killer Miller 2016"

by:

Virgilio F. De leon Jr.

If there was ever a card that would represent all of those piles of cards that have been left on tables and fat packs that were supposed to turn into awesome decks but were never finished then this would be the one. Forgotten Creation.

Every magic player has one of those side deck projects that they never get to finish may it be because of lack of time or financial constraints or the simple unavailability of a particular combo piece.

These are the decks that you tend to revisit when you are cleaning your room and you get lost in the concept of why you created it in the first place. You get enthralled by the power of what it represents and will it could be but you know that it will always be unfinished.

As for the actual card Forgotten Creation. This is hinted that it is one of Stitcher Geralfs earlier creations or maybe his quote was inspired when he saw this skulking around somewhere. 

A 3/3 Skulk creature for the price of 4 mana is not bad but it's actual built ability lets you do wonderful things that interact with things like Madness and Delirium. For one thing you could easily fill up your Delirium Quota by a single hand dumping.

Then again that would just be for the zombie tribe and it seems more like a Blue black deck could take advantage of all this Hand being dumped into the graveyard.

One of the things that intrigue me though is this cards interaction with the Magic Origins card Sphinx's Tutelage. In essence when you throw away your hand let us say that you have 5 cards. The Forgotten Creation would let you draw 5 fresh cards from your deck then the Sphinx's Tutelage will trigger for each card that you have just drawn. The thing is you will have to see the 2 cards that your opponent mills to the graveyard and check if they are both nonland cards that share a color so that the process could repeat. If not then there are 4 more triggers to resolve. At this point let us just say that your opponent did not have nonland cards that share a color that fell to his or her GY. They would have still milled 10 cards all in all. Not bad right? Now they need to survive the next couple of turns because if you don't cast any cards this turn there would be 6 new triggers for the Sphinx's Tutelage(including your first card draw next turn). I love these alternate builds to winning in Magic.

Now let me look at all those Forgotten Creations lying around the house.Maybe I could find the time to improve them after all. 

"Oh My Girls: Liar Liar MV reaction"

"Oh My Girls: Liar Liar MV reaction"

by:

The Vole

After waiting for what seemed liked an eternity (actually probably just a few months after Closer came out) OMG is finally back and with one heck of an upgrade to the strenghts that they already possess. The MV for Liar Liar boasts of a Wonderland theme that showcases the group individual charms and appeals. Their powerful vocals rises and there is a definite improvement to their Visual Department. The usual suspects of YooA , Jiho and Arin all look pretty and charmingly cute. Notably Binnie is in a Tweedle Dee/Dum outfit of striped knee high socks and the longer hair have done her good. She always seemed like she could be more sensual or prettier and here she just does that. Jine who has been steadily growing in the charm department is seen to break out here too.Check out Jine in her blue dress and Red Butterfly hairband. Candy Leader Hyosung and Seunghee's vocals resonate throught the song and that particular scene where they face off is just wonderful as an Alice and Red Queen. Mimi had little parts here and there but when she rapped you better believe that you would stop and stare. Look into her eyes and tell me that she didn't steal a little of your heart. 

All in all the stars of this video are still the 3 main Visuals. Check out the Maknae standing out in every little scene that she is in , thinner and prettier. JiHo on the other hand has that scene where she dunks her head in an aquarium full of water.Such commitment.Here is to hoping that none of the weekly variety show hosts will ask her to do that again on live TV. Then again that is just wishful thinking because I am already guessing that a lot of these said hosts will ask her to do the very same thing in the coming weeks.

And of course one cannot help but miss the Bed scene involving YooA. Yes there are a couple of bed scenes here. The members seems to be wallowing or swimming on the plush velvet bed but the iconic scene is the living doll YooA in thigh high white stockings and doll dress singing at the very end of the song. If by this time you weren't slain by the members cute close ups then YooA will finish the job just fine. 

While there is none of the precision dancing that OMG is known for in this MV believe me when I say that all those close ups and individual expressions of the members will more than make up for that. Now here is to waiting for the making MV and the Performance videos that ought to come out in the coming weeks.

"AoA Cream - Baby MV Reaction : Far from Being sloppy seconds"

"AoA Cream - Baby MV Reaction : Far from Being sloppy seconds"

by:

The Vole

AoA cream is a sub unit of Ace of Angels consisting of Main Vocals/Visuals Yuna , Rapper/ Dancer Chan Mi and Vocal/Visuals/Dancer Hyejong.

Their initial offering is a track called Baby. The MV prominently features scenes of transformation Ala Sailor moon. Complete with iconic poses and moon wands. Pink is probably the only color available when they went out and chose the set because pink is the dominant color all in every scene of the MV. There is a plot somewhere mainly revenge after Hyejongs character gets cheated on by her supposed boyfriend. Like I said to a friend Getting cheated on and getting revenge is a common Kpop theme. Dalshabet did that in Someone Like You earlier this year. I will keep my eye posted on who else does it mainly because I get tired after reading medical texts.

From my point of view the AoA cream subunit makes sense. AoA needs to release songs as I believe their song from last year Oh boy did not make the buzz needed to make it popular. The chicken dance thing in that song was so unsexy. The sub unit also serves as a platform to showcase these threes overshadowed assets. With Choa promoting Flame(or I still think she is promoting) , Jimin still in unpretty rap star where she tries and proves that she is a tough rapper rather than a cute rapper , Mina and CF Queen Seolhyun either busy with a TV or Movie project there is no way that they could go full blast with a comeback featuring all 7 members. Or 8 if you count their drummer who has not been seen for awhile since AoA Black(The Band Sub Unit) is out of commission for awhile. Jimin , Mina and Choa were 3/5ths of that group.

I caught myself laughing when I saw the title for their making the video clip of their song Baby. It was called Baby Making Video. I kid you not. Look it up on youtube and you will see Baby Making Video. Probably a harmless mistranslation from Korean or a very good marketing strategy to up the View count. Either way I would have clicked it but did not expect to see any babies being made. 

About the song itself. Some of the best parts are the whoops interspersed. The Rapping part where Chan Mi shows that she is the tougher side of AoA Rap while still retaining that sexy feel. When she starts with I'm your lady....you will finish listening to the whole rap. Yuna and Hyejong get to sing a whole lot more without Choa and her tender but sexy voice hogging all the limelight. Yuna hit that Major high note almost to the end and I cannot help but clap in recognition.

In the future I do hope that AoA still performs as a whole group but in the meantime we would have to be content with Cream. Far from being sloppy seconds they are a whole new flavor unto themselves. Check them out.

"Laboum: Aalow Aalow MV reaction: Where is Yulhee?"

"Laboum: Aalow Aalow MV reaction: Where is Yulhee?"

by:

The Vole

When Laboum came out with Aalow Aalow last December I had doubts that this MV would gain any traction with fans. The 6 member group consisting of Yu-Jeong , So- Yeon , ZN , Hae-In , Solbin and Yul-hee is probably busy making a new video since their Crowd funding endeavor with Makestar was successful in getting the support from fans last Feb 2016. Not a peep from them since then so I expect a great video from them.  

This is one the earliest things I wrote so I had to revise a bit. This MV has a lot things working for it since it is Laboum and their bright energy can still be felt even though it seems subdued. I mean they are in just one room playing with Globes and Gumball machines.

One of the things in this video is that there main vocalist So Yeon is sporting shorter hair and has been given more air time than most of the members combined. Probably because there are a lot of high parts in this song and they want to show off what their main vocals can do.

Another thing that you would notice is that there is no rap part in the MV which has made Yulhees airtime much lesser. She has the least part in the MV and I find that such a shame since she has been dieting and the results have shown because her face doesn't look like a square anymore. You actually see her jawline and when they were doing promotions I did not recognize her as Yulhee. I thought they recruited a new member! I hope no one gets me wrong here . I love Yulhee in all her forms may it be the chubby or well chiseled one. I just wished they gave her a little more air time here or a little close up. There is probably a reason for that but I am not sure of what that is exactly.

Don't let the blazing electric guitars at the beginning of the song get to you. Once the lead singer begins you are sure to be hooked by Laboums latest offering.

"Stellar - Sting MV Reaction"

"Stellar - Sting  MV Reaction"

by:

The Vole

I know what Stellar looks like but I wanted to just listen.And their latest offering Sting was an audio delight. They really are talented and they have put up another catchy song that will be sure to go on top of the charts ,  at least for awhile until the next release of the other groups who have promised Comebacks for this year. I actually fell asleep listening to this soothing sound and to think that this was supposedly a dance tune. A sexy dance tune!

The lovely foursome of Gayoung , Minhee , Junyool and Hyoeun have made a come back and they do not disappoint in the vocal departments.

Minhee starts off the song with its deep bass lines and lead keyboards fading in and out of the background.

After Vibrato came out with all the suggestive images of a woman's reproductive organs there was some concern that Stellar would have to do something more sexy to top it of. Well I can honestly say that there are no suggestive images in their new video.In fact it is not really suggestive.They are actually displaying where they want to be stung. Well the Sting actually refers to the woman's words as she asks her lover if she is getting through to him. Are you feeling anything from my words? Does it sting? 

But with all the images of Minhee pulling up her legs to reveal her crotch area as she lays on her side on a bed one cannot help but imagine that the Sting in the title is meant to be something else. Oh and if you notice the cactus from Vibrato is back. That little Prick!

Or should I say a lot of pricks?

Fans can expect a minimalist approach to sexiness here that is nonetheless very effective in capturing attention. Minhee being photographed in bed in the opening sequence , Gayoung splaying her legs on a yellow couch , Junyool in thigh high black stockings and clear shots of her white underwear as she turns her long legs this and that. And Hyoeun? Well she has pointer clickers pointing at her nearly there shorts and she seems to be deathly afraid of them.

Let us just say that there are certain people that will be happy to stop click this video...Uhm...For Video editing lessons.

I mean minimalist because their is none of the hip twisting , thigh opening and butt rubbing that marked their other videos. Even the outfits are simple and subdued until you reach the latter half of the video. There was that one portion where they did a catwalk of sorts but that's the only part that probably hurt my eyes.

If you are a fan of Stellar then expect a treat in this latest video. Me I am probably happy that I am part of a release as it happened. Not something that I only heard months later. With or without the video of endless crotches though this song is certainly worth listening to. No unnecessary moaning or anything like that. Just a simply catchy tone.

I watched the Dance Video/ Practice video and they are showing that same shirt pulling move that got another Kpop girl group banned(Rainbow I believe). I am not sure how that will turn out in the future. I guess their trademark step on this is the X cross step that they do as they move to the side. Looks complicated but fun to pull off for people who watch videos like this in order to research for dance steps.

So ends my first reaction to any music video. I hope Stellar continues to stand out in the future. I expect better things from them with or without the sexy.