The Future of My Motherland

It is less than one hundred days before the presidential elections. I am not into politics but I do give a damn to the future of our country. The presedentiables have their own gimmick of convincing each and every voter in our country. Some resort to black propaganda, some exploit the weakness of evey Filipino, being sentinmental. This is the first time we will use a computerized voting system but the objective is still the same. Vote for the right person.

Even though there is little hope for an elected official to really do his job, we still hold on to that hope. We are proud to be Filipinos in other countries, thanks to Manny Pacquiao and to everybody else who bears the Philippine flag. But that is all just fame. We cannot convert fame into food that will feed the mouths of the hungry Filipino children. The power to solve those problems lie on the hands of the politician. They have the resources, they have the manpower. They have the fund, but they don't use it. They never return the money that came from the people. Heck I pay taxes from my salary, but I still pay more because of that effin' EVAT that was conveniently added on our basic needs. What the hell those guys did to our money?

It will be a miracle if we successfully voted for the right president. The future of the Filipino people is hanging on the balance.

The Power of the Internet

Today was the 14th year anniversary of 24 Hours in Cyberspace. It was "the largest one-day online event" up to that date, headed by photographer Rick Smolan.The project brought together the world's top photographers, editors, programmers, and interactive designers to create a digital time capsule of online life.

It marked the cooperation of netizens through-out the world and to think 1996 was still the infancy of the commercial internet. Today, We reproduced that success by successfully decimating information from Ondoy to the Haiti tragedy. We used the vast power of the internet to spead awareness and to give our support. The advancement of the internet paralled to the advancement of help all over the world. No one is alone in this world now. Seek help and you shall find help. Truly, the flame of dedication of the the netizens 14 years ago is still burning until today.

The Last Airbender Superbowl trailer

Coming to theaters July 2,2010

No..no blue men here..just some badass element bending

Dora...the Exploited

Just like most the female celebs in the Philippines, Dora decided to show some skin in the hopes of launching herself to stardom. I don't know about you guys, but I definitely think that Dora should reconsider her career move.

[Review] Drool is Cool

With its colorless images and sometimes crappy lines, the uninitiated might find it hard to imagine how manga captivates its readers, I included.

I was introduced to the world of manga by my brother and best friend last year, and though I still prefer animé with its moving images, its stationary counterpart can be as engaging.

I started by reading Shounen manga, Naruto and Death Note in particular, and although the absence of colors discouraged me at first, the stories revolving around each character eventually convinced me to turn page after page. After witnessing Near put an end to Light Yagami's semi-psychotic ambitions, and while awaiting for the future that lies ahead of Konoha, I started searching the Net for other manga to gobble up.

During my search, I decided to move away from the Shounen genre and started exploring other genres, Ecchi to be exact. Now, if you know what Ecchi is, you just figured out that I was attracted to read manga of such genre for all the wrong reasons but ended up enjoying it for all the right reasons instead (although, I still get my fair share of the wrong and am enjoying it).

Now, I've only read a handful of Ecchi manga, since I'm still in search for more (don't get the wrong idea) but among those that I've read, Mysterious Girlfriend X seems to standout.

MGX tells the story of high school student Tsubaki Akira, whose attention was caught by Urabe Mikoto, a scissor-wielding transfer student who lacks interest in socializing with others, and has a knack for spending her breaks asleep while saliva freely flows from her mouth.

One day, Tsubaki saw traces of drool from Urabe's desk in class, and out of curiosity, tastes a sample of the said liquid. After a few days, he got sick (and who wouldn't after tasting a stranger's saliva right?).

Urabe then paid Tsubaki a visit, only to inform him that she knows what Tsubaki did (tasting her saliva) and the reason he got sick is because he developed dependence towards Urabe's drool. Urabe then placed her finger in her mouth and applied saliva to the tip, then placed her finger inside Tsubaki's mouth which led to his recovery.

Realizing that they are now bound by his saliva-dependency, Tsubaki asked Urabe to become his girlfriend, and after cutting the picture of his former crush into pieces, Urabe accepts his offer.

What follows is a series of funny spit-swapping events that allows the couple to communicate their inexpressible feelings through their saliva. In addition, readers are treated to Tsubaki's and Urabe's day-to-day progress as a couple as they try to make their relationship work while keeping it a secret to the rest of their classmates.

Aside from their relationship, the couple has to deal with sexual urges, miscommunication, insecurities, other people trying to break them up (or so I think) and all other problems that come with being a teenager and growing up.

Though most the issues tackled in MGX are common among your typical boy-gets-girl stories, the spit-swapping factor somehow changes the entire playing field putting this manga on a slightly different level. A must read for the young ones and the 'young…once', Mysterious Girlfriend X, an on-going series published in Afternoon, is guaranteed to make you drooling for more. - Marlone Viardo