"Gabby Alipe- Visions MV reaction:The Beautiful Dirty City."

"Gabby Alipe- Visions MV reaction:The Beautiful Dirty City."

by:

Virgilio F. De leon Jr.

Finally a video that I could react to that I actually feel a very strong connection to because I have walked the same places and seen the same things over and over again.

In the high definition black and white video , scenes of the daily life in Manila can be seen but this is far from the glamorous clubs or the clean city scape that one can expect from such videos. The theme is to see the city for what it really is for it's inhabitants.There is a lot of take in. A vision of sorts that appear before your eye and then wavers before it moves on the next. 

These are things that you see every day but do not notice brought in sharp focus that even the ugly and the dirty seems beautiful. 

Gabby Alipe walking in the streets and underpasses and bridges of Manila in all it's sharp contrasts of religion and politics and economics. For once it is not about people dancing but everyday people smiling for the camera and being brought to bear in all their normalcy.

Manila City Hall to The Quiapo Church , Gabby Alipe takes you on a tour to show the every day life of the city of Manila and its inhabitants. 

Enjoy the frenetic strumming in Visions and the iconic voice of Mr. Alipe coupled with the Japanese flutes in the chorus of the song that is part inspirational song / battle anthem for someone who is facing difficulties but still believing that with perseverance and a little belief things will still fall into place.All in good time as the song goes.

All in good time.

"10 Signs that you might be a Stan..."

"10 Signs that you might be a Stan..."

by:

The Vole

Stan. A name that was given new meaning after the hit song from Eminem came out. It talks about a fan who really loves  a particular artist to the point of obsession even to the point that they think that there is a special relationship that goes between them and the artist even if they have never met at any point in their lives.

In Kpop lingo this pretty much pertains to a fan who follows a particular artist or group regardless if it leads to obsession or not I can't tell but there are certain signs that you might be becoming a Stan of a particular Artist or group if you are exhibiting some of the following:

1) A True Stan - Knows individual voices even if they do not see who is performing on stage. 

2) A True Stan  - Would go through a 2 hour long fan cam video  of a fan meeting without even knowing a word of Korean and still enjoy it. 

3) A True Stan - Would get a joke from their favorite idol even if they can't speak an ounce of Korean. Body language seems to convey a lot.

4) A True Stan - Needs daily doses of Aegyo to survive.If you cannot stop clicking a video where your favorite artist or group is doing something cute. There is an existing word for this but being a True Stan you already know what that is.

5) A True Stan - would have a voracious appetite for their chosen artists content. Expect a not so secret video cache in their laptop , tablet or phone.

6) A True Stan - Probably has Soompi , Allkpop or OneHallyu already bookmarked and notifying them as soon as they open their devices.

7) A True Stan - Would declare their fandom even with the slightest provocation. I am a....(insert fandom name here)

8) A True Stan - Would have a predebut picture of their favorite artist or group lying around somewhere even if that is not the most flattering picture of that person or group.

9) A True Stan - Would dig deep behind a video and could probably tell you the behind the stories about a particular MV.

10) A True Stan - knows when his or her favorite artists would appear next like clockwork even if they can't go to that appearance themselves.

So have you found yourself in any of these 10 signs? Stanning is not really bad and it is a better addiction than most. Just be careful that it does not take over your life. It is one thing to stan but other things let to dangerous things.

"The Dragon approaches"

"The Dragon approaches"

by:

Virgilio F. De leon Jr.

"Have you ever seen a patient dragon get mad?" she asked one of her captors , the shortest one with the short cropped hair who was menacingly holding a gun to her head. "Do you know how fast things could get really ugly?"

"Hopefully he could get to you faster than I can pull this trigger."

"Oh he can. Do you hear that?" YuuA leaned a little closer to the right.

From the distance a low rumbling. The one nearest to Yuua pointed at the nearest window and two armed lackeys looked out just in time to see the side of a mountain sliding to the valley floor below. Both of them swallowed involuntarily.

"Ah. Finally you can see him. Watch the trees." Yuua said still smiling. Amused at the panic that must have been setting in the hearts of his captors by now.

True enough the trees were falling left and right.The sounds of their fall echoing through the abandoned mining valley. Each Tree crashing on the forest floor caused the building that they were in to shake.3 , 6 , 12 , 15 they counted in their heads. The trees kept falling. The kidnappers looked at each other , all 12 of them could just imagine what would happen when what ever was doing that was able to reach their hide out.

"Should I ask him to come faster?" Yuua looked at the one holding the gun to her head. She could see the fear in those eyes but he was the leader and he felt like he needed to do something.

"Shout at him if you must. Tell him that if he does not stop his approach then you would be nothing but a lifeless corpse before he arrives." The leader said visibly shaking with the false bravado.

"Wrong answer. He heard you." Yuua looked straight at the window. Squinting just a little."Here he comes"

The force of the impact came before the slashing sound. 11 of the kidnappers who were vigilantly guarding Yuua looked at the room and saw that it was falling to the right. Their vision followed and slipped to the floor as 11 heads fell , cut cleanly from their bodies. 

The lone survivor of the 12 was heard screaming in horror and took aim at Yuua from a far corner of the room. He was alive mainly because he was as tall as the chair that Yuua was sitting on and the others stood a full foot taller than him.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you" A man said behind the lone survivor. The man turned and saw  V who was casually walking over to where he was.A Tree trunk still in one arm. 

"Oh . Let me get rid of this." V threw the tree toward the mountain behind him without any effort. A plume of dust rose up where it hit. And another part of the mountain slid down to the valley.

The survivor threw down his semi-automatic weapon to the ground in surrender. "I am glad you came to your senses" V smiled. "Now tell your boss that he should never meddle in the affairs of the Silver King. I might pay him a visit next. I might be hungry when I drop by. Now let my Yuua go and be on your way."

The man took the keys from his pockets and freed the cuffs from Yuuas hands. He then ran as fast as he could away from the place. Yuua walked calmly over to V.Like a tiger about to pounce. 

"What took you so long?"

"I got lost."

"I forgive you."

"What?"

"Now let's eat something."

"I know just the place!It's nice to know that being kidnapped hasn't dampened your appetite."

"Only because I knew you were on your way to get me." YuuA said as she slid her arms around V's. 

"Shokugeki No Soma:Let's eat and strip."

"Shokugeki No Soma:Let's eat and strip."

by:

Virgilio F. De leon Jr.

Shokugeki No Soma is about the main character Souma as he traverses the tough cooking world as a first year student at the elite Tootsuki Cooking Academy. This manga engaged me at the get go because of the challenge that was posted to Souma to improve himself and it was something that he believed could achieve that he brazenly said so during his school's opening ceremony.

This manga seems like the spiritual successor to cooking master boy , an anime that my wife were so into when we were dating. There are interesting characters that make life easy or harder for Souma , and some of the judges for the cooking unknowingly or uncontrollably when they sample the dishes which makes me want to pose the question. What the heck are they eating that seem to be going into orgasms and stripping?Oh and where can I get that for myself?

Like Cooking Master Boy there are visuals that are over the top when people eat and I am still surprised at the amount of food that gets fresh approaches and characters who battle with their own personalities.

Probably one the biggest features in this manga are the Shokugeki's. Challenges that could be issued to anyone. This raises the stakes as the story progresses as there are a lot of people in the academy that do not want Souma to succeed. He keeps on surprising them anyway. I am currently issue 92 and the manga has now run into 190. If like me your current manga has ended and are looking to get into a new one this might be a great one for you.

It has drama , action , comedy and a little bit of ecchi in it too. Don't be surprised. Let's eat and strip together should be a subtitle here somewhere.

"Midweek Magic #4 : Ram's Girls"

"Midweek Magic #4 : Ram's Girls"

by:

Virgilio F. De leon Jr.

4 years ago my friend Ralph offered me a foil Sen's Triplets at an absolute bargain price I somehow was in the mood to make mono colored commander decks only. Maybe I was looking at the Esper colors and concluded that I don't have enough lands or mana rocks to support this commander.Maybe I was too tired and did not really read the very long text of the card. Whatever it was I now feel like it was a very wrong fated move.

Fast forward to 2016 and I now have a new playgroup in Eton Centris , I was reintroduced to this card which I now fondly call Ram's Girls and like the things that I did not pay much attention to they really kicked me in the butt.

Ram said that his only EDH deck had the Sen Triplets as his commander and I vaguely remember reading about them but that was it. I was able to dominate our 1v1 for awhile until these women showed up on the battlefield and just like that all of my well thought out plans with Vorel as my commander was foiled.

The Sen Triplets was like an offensive version of the Pre-cog triplets from Minority report. They control your mind. They control your turn and they can cast from your hand as if it was part of your opponents hand. Extended library mode. They can play your lands. Your creatures. Play your spells and then counter them with your own counters leaving you vulnerable on your next turns and your hand all the more lighter.

"It would have been fitting but not just meant to be."

I felt a little bit hopeful though because I still had a chance to turn the tables with a Corrupted Conscience in my hand but alas. It was lands that would be my undoing. 1 land was all that was missing and I would have controlled the Sen Triplets but then again as fate would put those ladies would never be mine. And for as long as we are playing EDH games in Eton they will always be Ram's girls.

"Midweek Magic #3: A taste of my own medicine"

"Midweek Magic #3: A taste of my own medicine"

by:

Virgilio F. De leon Jr.

During one of our midweek magic sessions I waxed nostalgic and poetic about my former life as a Phyrexian Plaguelord. This was the title bestowed to the player who was able to achieve the most poison wins for the current season in the SM North Sky Garden community. I won over much better players because I was too stubborn and I think due to sheer attendance!

I told Ram and Pao that there is no greater feeling than to see an opponents butt rise a few feet from their seats when you first cast a Glistener elf on the table. Or the dreaded turn 1 Inkmoth nexus casting Signal pest and on turn two attacking with animated Inkmoth Nexus and Signal pest for 2 Poison counters and then paying 8 life to cast 4 copies of Mutagenic growth for the win.

So the next week Ram , Pao , Vince and I decided that we would play with modern decks , I managed to search the mess that is my card laboratory and found the Mardu deck deck that I used in the last GP minus 5 lands and since I was not able to find where those went I foolishly played with 21 lands and would end up suffering later that night.

And what should Pao be playing this night? Why Mono Black Infect Machine gun. The kind that I also used to play and who should suffer an Equiped Vatmother to the face? Why me of course and oh boy did my own medicine tasted bitter. Bula bibig ko eh. But I was happy that I got to play with Infect again.

Ram ran with a Mishra Artificier prodigy deck and that too proved too abusive as it would power out mana rock at first and then the big guns like Scuttling doom engine and Phyrexian Juggernauts which also had infect. 

And then there was the infamous Land Cut. Where I played 7 turns with just lands. Guess who died from that turn of events. Thanks for the deck cut Ram. It was so frustrating but fun to see what the other decks were churning up. I laughed as the Vatmother poisoned me to death. So this is how that feels. Hahahahah

Looking forward to some payback now that the Mardu deck is fixed. Time for some more midweek magic.  

"Midweek Magic # 2: When Mill Met Delirium"

"Midweek Magic # 2: When Mill Met Delirium"

by:

Virgilio F. De leon Jr.

The storm was passing and things were getting back to normal back at work. Ram and Pao paid me a visit in the clinic and we got to play a little Pantry magic where I wanted to test my chopsuey Monowhite vehicles deck against the Modern Blue Black Mill deck that Ram brought with him.

Pao who was fairly new to magic brought in an almost patch work Golgari Black/Green deck that featured Delirium. Decks with a lot of creatures do tend to dominate in matches like this but Ram was able to pull off the win in the end with well timed Crypt Recursions in the face of overwhelming creature superiority.

"I did tell you that I would haunt your dreams right?"

One of the memorable plays involved an Archive trap aimed at Pao who seemed happy milling his library and Ram realizing that Delirium was now online on just turn two! From then on Pao would be able to get creatures from his graveyard like Nemesis of Reason and would be able to cast a Soul Swallower. A freaking Soul Swallower with Delirium online and the only true removal in my deck was Revoke Privileges! When that monster came out I did not have one at hand. It would eventually have 9 counters on it making it a 15/15 trampler that would kill me and Ram. Oh and that Nemesis of Reason that Pao got ,  it paired up with Soul Swallower and had its monstrosity activated to be a 12/12. Despite having a lot of Servos and even a Chief of the Foundry in play I eventually died thanks to Delirium. And oh thanks to Ram as well. Note to Ram Milling decks and Delirium decks don't mix well. Hahahahaha

It turned out that mixing up the decks created a wonderful experience where we all had fun.And all of the wins were decided by smart moves until the very end. It will be interesting to play with you guys again soon. Finally getting some Magic plays going on.