Christmas In The Air

Is it me, or has the season come in guns blazing? I recently found myself enjoying a cool December night a couple of days ago, and that's when it hit me - the holidays are here.

I just love the festive season! As lights begin to festoon every corner and each street of Makati, I begin to see that Christmas truly is in the air. I feel the season tug at my childhood each morning I wake up. I find myself hard pressed to get out of bed, instead wanting to just curl up in my warm sheets and just lazily sleep the cool morning away - a physical memory of my years spent as a child enjoying long holiday breaks.

The weather lately has been so pleasant, unusually cool for tropical Manila,something I only really encountered as a child. As I grew older and vacations and holidays became shorter, so too did the season get warmer. Now with the weather all cool and wonderful, I find myself longing more and more for a nice long holiday!

Did I ever mention that my family and I are Holiday nuts, we're real big on the holidays here. Each Christmas season we spend a lot of time with family and just generally being all "Christmasy". We all still do the gifts and everything, and after Christmas dinner, we all gather around the tree, distribute gifts and open then in front of each other. Usually much to the amusement of the funny gifts we often receive.

I love this season, and despite what people say, I really do believe that Christmas is for everyone and not just for kids..

Back Online!

After a somewhat looooooong break from blogging, I am once again back online!

Ridiculously enough, I took a boat load of pictures during my break so that when I do get back I would have loads to blog about. However, despite the method to the madness I now find myself absolutely swamped in topics... @_@

So I plan on compiling the updates on a single entry that hopefully won't be too picture laden, not to worry I've learned to minimize uploaded pics. -_O

So for now, let me just leave you with "It's nice to be back!"

Peace! O_o

Stolen

This song kills me...


Stolen

You watch the season pull up its own stage
And catch the
last weekend

Of the last week
Before the gold and the glimmer have been replaced
Another sun soaked season
Fades away

You have stolen my heart
You have stolen my heart

Invitation only, grand farewells
Crash the best one
Of the best ones
Clear liqour and
Cloudy eye
Too early to say goodnight

You have stolen my heart
You have stolen my heart

And from the bottle flow, we are in celebration
One good stretch before our hibernation
Our dreams are sure
And we all will sleep well
We'll sleep well

You have stolen
You have stolen my
You have stolen my heart

I watch you spin around
In the highest heels
You are the best one
Of the best ones
We all look like we feel

You have stolen my
You have stolen my
You have stolen my heart

By: Dashboard Confessional

O_o

Hiatus...

I guess after a while everybody gets a little tired... Just need a break for the good 'ol juices to flow. Will posts updates again soon... Promise! Hehehe


O_o

Changes...

Change is important after all, I now see.

Lest worms stay as worms and butterflies cease to be.

X_X

Doggie Picture Woes...

You think its hard taking pictures of animals? Well you should try taking a picture of my dog Bruce.

Here he is below as I call him out so that I can take a picture of him as he faces the camera.

"Brucey, look at the camera"

...One!...

...Two!...

...Three!...

ADIK!

There goes another wasted shot. Man, I think he just likes to irritate me...

Peace o_Ox

Takoyaki!

Some years back there was a small stall type establishment called Samurai Foods that amongst other things sold a meager selection of Japanese dishes. However the highlight of this stall was not its limited Japanese culinary exposure, but rather their standard for getting noticed...

The humble Takoyaki Balls! Now dont get me wrong, it's nothing magnificent that must be hailed as a prince amongst foods, but it did offer a unique taste. One that was quite indeed a rarity amongst small stalls at the time.

Sadly, Samurai Foods slowly disappeared from the malls and super markets, leaving no source of the yummy but cheap treat.

Until now...

Really it has indeed been years since I las tasted this yummy treat, and now only to find it back with a vengeance. No, this isn't from Samurai Foods though, it is from another small non-existent elsewhere stall, but they do make one MEAN batch of takoyaki. Normally takoyaki is made from a yummy "fishball-squid" like batter, inside there is usually a piece of octopus, or locally squid, (Samurai Foods I believe never did this) then topped with a red sauce and some green herbs for garnish. It usually takes around 5 minutes to prepare a batch.

This new stall however takes quite a bit longer, I found out why. They use more ingredients, they have squid pieces inside, some small deep fried shrimp, then they use the standard takoyaki sauce, but added with a sweet brown powdery flaky thing along with the green herb garnish. Finally topped off with a bit of Japanese mayo.

YUM!





Here they are above, don't they just look yummy! I admit, though they are slightly more expensive, and take longer to make, they are just truly worth it!

So if you're ever passing buy PQUE/BF (around ruins) drop by and give 'em a try!

Animated Lockdown

The Transformers Animated line is slowly gaining speed here in the country, and already a very tiny trickle of the toys is slowly making its way here. Already my buddy over at Senses Lumines
got his paws on a voyager class Bulkhead which was actually quite nice. So while I was perusing the mall a while ago, I kept my eye out for some of them. I was especially looking for voyager classes, or maybe even a deluxe Prowl. What I found however was also difficult to pass up. Deluxe Lockdown. I've seen him in the show, and in reviews and thought that he looked rather cool, so I decided to get him.




The entire line comes in its own stylized packaging with the cartoon rendition of the toy your buying splashed on the front. I think it works well, but I cant help but think its a little too patriotic with the red whites and blues... But that may be just me...




The back showcases a rather cool rendition of the toy... I have to say the ones on the card backing have additional paint and detail applications making them look better. The actual toys do not really look that well painted... hehehe




After opening the card, I was pleasantly surprised to find that gone are those annoying twist ties! Great!




Here is Lockdown in his alt mode. As you can see he is modeled after some form of muscle car. The spikes and all add to his overall appearance. I would have to say he actually looks cool. Its kind of hard not to pick him up everytime I see him! He also looks a little bigger than your standard deluxe line of toys. Unfortunately without others from the line to compare him with I cant really say.




To begin his rather involved transformation you split apart the sides of the car and bring them down.




You then remove the engine (which later on turns into his weapon) and rotate the sides of the car forward forming his rather long legs. You then stretch them out and rotate into place his thighs which were originally the sides of the hood of the car. You then rotate his feet forward so that he can stand and then rotate his torso around 180 degrees.




From here on you can already tell he is one REALLY TALLL figure! I already removed the rest of his hood which will also turn into a claw weapon for him later on. All thats left to do now is to bring his arms down to the side and rotate his head out from inside his chest.




Here you have Lockdown fully transformed. He looks real cool and menacing. Although not as meaty as the cartoon counterpart, he pulls off the Lockdown look real well. On the ground are the rest of his hood and engine which will turn into the hook weapon and Ratchets EMP device. How it is Ratchets is a long story, short... Lockdown is a bounty hunter who likes to collect parts from fallen foes. He stole Ratchets EMP generator and now has it as a decorative engine in alt mode... Phew!




Here you can see that his kneecaps are not the same color, its because he collects parts from different Transformers, nice to see they added that detail into the toy.

Here is Lockdown equipped with the hook arm and EMP weapon.

As for stability, he may have issues with his ball jointed leg joints, but you can still make him do a kick stance relatively easily. Sadly his arms are really limp... You can't get them to go all the way out due to design.




Lockdown is a cool deluxe figure, and for my first from the line, I would say he is rather cool... Unfortunately there are a few things that detract from perfection...

He's built rather flimsily... Sadly when I first began transforming him his leg popped off! It attached right back but still, I don't feel comfortable when toys pop out of place like that. This is Transformers not LEGO.

Next, whatever quality was put into the voyager class seems to be lacking here. There are a few paint apps missing, and again, with the non clickyness... I like it when transformers are solid and clicky. Although he may be built that way because he is after all a deluxe class figure, I still would have liked some solid feel.

Don't get me wrong, maybe it's just this particular one that's bad. He does feel solid in alt mode and robot mode, but really flimsy in between.

Still a great buy in spite of it all. He looks cool as a car, really menacing as a robot. Let's hope my next deluxe line toy isn't as poppy as Lockdown.

Stockade

Sometime ago I was able to pick up what I'm assuming is one of the last original molds to be made for the Transformers Movie toy line. This time around it's Decepticon Stockade. He comes as an S7 van thingy (yeah, couldn't tell myself)... He is well detailed ( I especially like the mini Deceptiocon emblem on the front grill) and comes off in blacks, some greys and tranclucent blues.




Below is how his transformation starts. His transformation in fact is actually quite simple, after you pull out the front portion, you simply rotate them around to turn them into his lower legs and feet.




Then all thats left is to split the body apart revealing his rather long arms and thats basically it!




Here he is below almost completely transformed... I just forgot to twist his head around...




Here you can see the detail of his back. I actually like the way his back is formed from the front wheels of the van.




All in all I think Stockade comes off rather well. His robot mode is good looking, although he has no weapon, he has extending arms as his gimmick. Great detail, and well built, I think he is a fine addition to the line and a good representation of the deluxe line!

Got a new camera!

My mom just got back from a trip to India... I hear it was humid and there were lots of spicy foods. Well, my family has a tradition that we usually travel together abroad, when we don't because the parents or in this case the "parent" decided to travel to some place in the world on their own, it is customary for them to buy a rather "big" gift for the us the kids. Hehehehe.

In this case she came back with a bundle of Indian jewelry for herself my sis and aunts etc.(which was cheap I hear) and for me (since I don't wear jewelry) a new camera.

I liked the Nikon D40 ever since it came out way back in the day, but found that I had other things I needed to purchase first, sadly it was taking me a while to get the new camera, and hoped that in time an opportunity would present itself...

Indeed it did! Thanks mom!

Moving on... because it was my mom who purchased it, the d40 came back to me un-boxed and stored in a camera bag. The various elements strewn about in a big plastic bag. She happened to keep the original box only as a base for another plastic bag...

Here it is...



The kit comes complete with the body as well as a Nikkor DX 18-55 mm manual / auto focus lens. It also comes with a CD, charger, strap as well as the battery. As for the memory card, my mom was able to bargain for a freebie 4gig stick! Wow!





Here are the contents of the box, unfortunately, it should also have come with a usb data cable, which was apparently left in the hotel in India... Have to find a good replacement here.

I'm excited for my new camera, it will take me a while I'm assuming to get used to all the new nuances of this camera, but as with most gadgets, thats half the fun!

Peace o_Ox

Omega Supreme Goodness!

Heard of Transformers Animated? Well I've been keeping tabs on the show, and for those not in the know, its quite a departure from the Transformers of old. They sport mismatched proportions, over the top expressions, and a down right "cartoony" nature if I do say so myself. If you're seeing them for the first time, you'd think it was Transformers for kids...

I forget if I already said anything about them, but what I say now is that they are in fact cool, the cartoon rocks, and also mainly because they toy line is very appealing! From what I've seen the toys have very good quality and are well engineered, their transformations are simple yet still very cool as they now combine the best of the gimmicks from all the previous lines (automorphs, button gimmicks, and lights and sounds)

My buddy over at Senses Lumines got a hold of a Voyager class figure... Bulkhead, and well just see for your self his Orcish goodness!

Anyway, the reason for this post is that a new character was introduced to the series, and he has already been confirmed as the next supreme class of toy for the line... He is none other than Omega Supreme himself!

He has had a rather colorful history as a toy and animated character, but safe to say he has always been large in both categories (animation and toy incarnations) good to see he will also continue in this thinking as he will be in the supreme sized category of animated toys.




Here is Omega Supreme in his alt mode, if you watch the cartoon, you'll know this is the Autobot's ship (they call the Ark / not to be confused with the Original Autobot Ark... That's a different story), it has a disabled defense system called "Omega" which was shut down due to lack of energy...

Even then there were already hints that this ship would be Omega Supreme... Just look at the color scheme and a system called "Omega"!

Here is another view of the Ark...

Here is the Ark with the "Omega" system activated, at which point he becomes the large Autobot Omega Supreme!

You can already plot out how he might transform... The legs become the bow of the ship, with the head as the turret (a throwback to the original Omega Supreme whose head was also a turret) and upper body as the ship's stern... You can already see the boosters and rear fins on his shoulders!

It's cool that fans of the series got their wishes / suspicions granted and confirmed! I think this is a very good rendition of Omega, and he looks totally wicked in a cute stumpy way.

Man I just cant wait to see his toy incarnation, I hope they make it real good!

Peace out O_ox

Japanese Food Fun...

Last week, I attended a seminar for creative thought processes. As the sessions would start at 2, and I was already there at 1:30, I decided to grab a bite to eat. I haven't had lunch at this time, but there really wasn't enough time to go around and find decent grub, so I went and roughed it a bit.

I stopped by a nearby Mini Stop to try and find something to eat, lo and behold the only thing that I relatively found edible was the fried dumplings, and a new item that I found.

ONIGIRI!




These "onigiri" (Japanese Rice Balls) were a little costly, but its been a while since I last had these. Also the last "onigiri" I had at Mini Stop (adobo flavor... iew) wasn't really good. So I tried out the new ones they had. In fact these look suspiciously like the ones I've had before on a stop over at Japan.

Anyway, I decided to take the sukiyaki and salmon stuffed ones. Sitting myself at an empty counter I set up my meal. I would take a dumpling and munch on the rice balls after.

The fried dumplings were sub par... However the sukiyaki onigiri was GREAT! The salmon was okay with me, a lot more authentic than that crappy adobo flavored one. But the sukiyaki flavored one was excellent!

It didn't hurt that they used really well made rice... Japanese rice I gather mixed with the rice wine adding sweetness and a mild, subtle flavor all around.

Sadly (maybe because of the rice shortage) these things are a little on the expensive side. 35 bucks a pop! A little too rich for my blood, but the taste was well justified... Im just cheap. LOLX

Here is another iconic Japanese dish, Gyoza... the fun part comes with how they spelled "dumpling" hehehe, in fairness, there were "Damplings" before in an online game called R.O.S.E. hehe!

Here is another one! Anyone want "carry"?

Japanese foods are fun, although curry isn't really a Japanese original, just look at some animes and you will see that curry has been integrated into their menu, just as we are now integrating onigiri into ours!

Yum!

Peace O_o x

Me Grimlock!

Guess what? I was able to pick up a classic deluxe Grimlock for 500 bucks! That's cool considering that before his price was jacked up ridiculously to 1200 Pesos! So, when I saw him I immediately grabbed him and headed straight to the cashier!




Here he is in package, and all he really comes with is his electro sword / gun / missile launcher. I didn't care however, I wanted him since I saw him 2 years ago!




After opening the packaging, you are greeted by every TF owners worst nightmare. The dreaded twist ties!

These are sheer lunacy! I mean there were 6 of them on this deluxe figure alone, when I brought Galaxy Force Primus 2 years back he had like a million of these things, I was afraid I would never get to play with him...

Grimlock on the other hand only came with 6, so I managed.

Sheer madness!

Here he is freed from his plastic and carton confines. He actually looks really good. No robot kibble to speak of, cept maybe you can see his chest from one side, and that's only if you look in between his leg and body.

He holds up pretty well, joints are sturdy and can hold a standing position. So I'm happy with that, however the joints were a little loose when I rotated them from left to right... So he can't cha cha cha, still a good buy!




So, next up is his robot form, I have heard rumors that his robot form is flimsy and doesn't hold well together, no better way of finding out than to see for myself. So here he is beginning his transformation.

First up, we separate the neck and gullet area from the main body.




Then we pull down the flaps on the side and pull down the tail section as well, this reveals his head.




After rotating his legs and upper body, we get a seemingly tangled mess. This is where Grimlock becomes unique, to facilitate his alternate form, they were a little creative with how you turn the rex legs into the arms. It involves rotating one leg until its oriented towards the other side of the body as seen above. Then you swivel the arms / shoulders into place to complete the transformation.

There are tabs located at the side of his collar that supposedly lock the swiveling shoulder mechanisms in place, however the collar piece is reversed on my Grimlock (a result of shoddy QA or a mold defect) this prevents the tabs from doing any actual locking, this is what every Grimlock owner complains about apparently.

However, I don't think it's a big deal. Mine is stable even without the locks, and is not flimsy at all. Maybe after a couple dozen transformations the swiveling mechanisms will loosen up, but for now it's ok.

Here he is in robot mode! A handsome fella even if I do say so myself...

Here is a closeup of his head, there is red piping making his visor glow with the light, cool. I just love the detail of his head!




Here is another shot of his body in robot mode, the rex head as feet are not too bad also, you can pose him, but it may take a while. Aggravating that might be that the ball joints for hip connectors are loose, but a little transparent nail polish should tighten those joints up nicely.

With his electro sword thingy.

A back side view. Notice the tail making his back detail a little more dinosaur like.

He can also equip his tail as some sort of whip weapon or maybe as an homage to Beast Wars Megatron!

Grimlock waving buh - bye!

Grimlock is a FANTASTIC buy for 500 bucks, I can see that someone paying 1200 Pesos would probably complain, but hey, I'm perfectly fine with my 500 Peso buy!

This should tie me over until I get my hands on the animated voyager version of Grimlock!

Peace O_o x

Tempura!

Yesterday after a catastrophic swimming outing that resulted in all of us waiting at Asian Hospital, my sister was said to be well enough for a little dinner before we all headed home. To console our tired and weary bodies after a long day of well... almost nothing, we all decided to eat something yummy. They were voting for North Park, however I've had some bad run ins with them and well... I kinda wanted to eat at a Japanese restaurant again... So off we sped to TEMPURA!




I've been having a craving for Japanese foods lately, mainly maki and sushi. I remembered from past experiences that theirs were kinda good as compared to others so I decided to order a mixed selection of makis. First up was the california maki!

The california maki as pictured above scored VERY VERY well on its own. As we already established from my last Japanese excursion what makes a good maki, I will elaborate on a detail that Teriyaki Boy didn't exaggerate. Notice the nice dollop of Japanese mayo on top. It made a lOT of difference to the flavor as a whole! I sort of forgot that making california maki even better was a generous portion of mayo on top gluing all the pieces together! It also didn't hurt that their mangoes were just right and didn't overpower the maki as a whole! Great...

The california maki however good on it's own will not pair very well with other dishes as I have discovered. I tried pairing it with tempura and some teriyaki chicken and it just didn't go well together. The mayo altered the harmony of the combination, thus alone it is great, with company not so much.

Next up...




FUTO MAKI! Now futo maki happens to be one of my favorite makis ever, and though I was mildly happy with the futo maki from Tboys, TEMPURA'S FUTO MAKI ROCKS! Ahem, let me elaborate, IT'S DAMN GOOD!

I don't remember it being this well made, maybe their ingredients were better, or it's been a while since I've had a good quality futo maki, but hell... This was one well made maki.

If you notice, there is no cucumber to speak off, just the pink stuff the bamboo shoot, the lemon wedge looking thing and some crab stick and tamago. However their combination and proportions were absolutely perfect! YUM, I can't wait until I get to eat these again!




Next up on the agenda (hey I was hungry) is something that a good friend of mine introduced to me. Behold the wonderful tori chizu maki! This ones a doozy, it's made from Philadelphia cream cheese, peas, crabstick, seaweed all wrapped in a roll of tender juicy chicken! The whole concoction is fried until the chicken achieves a golden brown color and the cream cheese melts to a creamy point that holds the whole thing together.

This was a treat! I have to admit that when it was introduced to me, it was more than 5 hours cold, yet even then it was good, when I tasted a freshly cooked batch, it was like biting into a piece of heaven. The yellow mustardy mix dip thingy compliments the fried maki extremely well!

Try this one out folks! It will not disappoint!




However, things can't all be perfect. Marring our stay at Tempura was this thing. To the trained eye it looks like sukiyaki, a yummy Japanese soup base mixed with fresh vegetables, tender meat, eggs, and a wonderfully saki based soup that hints at a deep sweetness within the mixture of flavor.

We thought so as well, unfortunately instead of a mild sweet hint, we were greeted by a very strong sour taste... Wrong!

Well, it cant all be perfect...




Tempura of course serves EXCELLENT quality tempura. However their price is moi excellente as well...





Washing this all down was their citrus green tea, although nowhere near Don Hens masterpiece, it'll do. It's a refreshing drink that's bound to have you coming back for more. Just make sure when they refill your glass, they refill the ice as well, if you run out of ice and only have the tea, it'll be too sweet.

So there you have it, all in all it was a good meal, and Tempura truly left me wanting more because their makis were just fabulous! Their price may be a little on the high end, but still within reason.

Their portions were a little better for their price, at 60 plus bucks you get 4 pcs of california maki, at about 100 - 120 (I forget) you get 5 pieces of futo maki, and for the same price (or near it) 6 pieces of tori chizu maki! WOW!

Their tempura is excellent, however they are also expensive, their iced tea also good went for about 52 bucks and lastly don't even think about the sukiyaki...

Tempura, try it out some time, make sure you get a few rounds in with those makis!

Peace O_o x