January 28, 2014

Sci-fi Galore

To finally end my blu-ray binge buying this month, I got the titles in the picture above -- still at the discounted Php499 each. These were all bought in Alabang Town Center's Odyssey.

They had more titles than the usual cartoon movies found in other branches. They also have a bunch of blu-ray titles for sale at Php699 and Php899. Titles include Source Code, Titanic, Limitless and Face Off.

January 24, 2014

Star Wars Force FX Lightsaber Sale!

Entertainment Earth currently has two Hasbro Force FX Lightsabers on sale right now!

Name: Anakin Skywalker Force FX Lightsaber
Origin: Star Wars
Manufacturer: Hasbro
Scale: 1:1
List Price: $124.99
Sale Price: $75.00

Name: Darth Maul Force FX Lightsaber
Origin: Star Wars
Manufacturer: Hasbro
Scale: 1:1
List Price: $124.99
Sale Price: $75.00
Order Here

Items are for free shipping if you live in the US. Which is very sad for those who live outside of the States (like me!) as shipping can cost as much as $50.

January 21, 2014

Don't Take a Bath on a Friday

A trip to the bookstore resulted in purchasing these books:
The Walking Dead: Rise of the Governor
After reading The Walking Dead volume 19, I realized that it's gonna be another looooong wait until the next TPB comes out. I've put off buying the Rise of the Governor book because when it came out, I had a lot of catching up to do with the comics -- but that's not the case now. Well, I can't really say much about it right now since it's now part of my to read pile; I'll get to discussing it when the time comes.

Tatlong Gabi, Tatlong Araw
Ever since I've read Ligo na u, Lapit na me, I've considered myself a fan of Eros Atalia. I like his stories, I like how they're easy to read and I like the humor. I've just started on this so yeah, no discussions until I'm done.

Wakasang Wasak
Carlos "Siege" Malvar is also one of the local authors I'm following since I read his works: Roles and Crash. The two reminded me a lot of UA&P in a funny and exaggerated way. Those two are totally different from Wakasang Wasak. It's a collection of short stories, comprised of three stories reminiscent of both The Twilight Zone and...Goosebumps. I had a hard time putting the book down and I was able to finish it in one sitting.

Don't Take a Bath on a Friday
It's just a compilation of superstitions and folk beliefs of Filipinos. Most of it I've heard or learned in school, some I've already forgotten until I read it from this book. My sister and I had a good laugh with some of the superstitions listed (i.e., looking at the mirror at a certain time to see who you're going to marry).

It's funny to think that many Filipinos, no matter how much times have changed, are still superstitious. I guess it's part of our culture? I often find myself still adhering to old sayings as I go about my day -- hard to remove from my system haha. I think it's good though, as it makes me more mindful of what I do. Nothing hardcore, but just the right amount of cautiousness.

---
Having said all these, where can I find a collection of all superstitious beliefs from around the Philippines?

January 20, 2014

Darth Vader and Kids!

These have to be the cutest Darth Vader maquettes EVER!

Based on Jeffrey Brown's books, Darth Vader and Son and Darth Vader's Little Princess, Gentle Giant created two maquettes for each book.

Character: Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker
Origin: Star Wars
Manufacturer: Gentle Giant, Ltd.
Scale: 1/6
Release Date: Q2 2014
Price: $149.99

Character: Darth Vader and Leia Organa
Origin: Star Wars
Manufacturer: Gentle Giant, Ltd.
Scale: 1/6
Release Date: Q2 2014
Price: $149.99

Each statue comes with an exclusive copy of the book they're based from. The book is exclusive because it contains:
• 16-page signature with the original black & white concept sketches from Jeffrey Brown! These sketches have not been released to the public until now, and are exclusive to this boxed set.

• A new full color illustration from Jeffrey Brown printed on board and packaged in a vellum sleeve.

• The book cover and spine will be printed with color foil stamps and spot gloss varnish. 
You can pre-order both now:
Darth Vader and Son
Darth Vader's Little Princess

More blu-ray deals

I checked out a couple more Astrovision and Odyssey branches to see if they had more blu-ray titles available. I guess I'm pretty lucky.

I was able to get:

  1. Pocahontas and Pocahontas 2
  2. John Carter of Mars
  3. Air Force One
  4. The Fox and the Hound and The Fox and the Hound 2
  5. National Treasure 2
  6. Alice in Wonderland
  7. Prince of Persia: Sands of Time
  8. The Little Mermaid
The are all Php499 each, so they're a very good deal. Stocks are depleting quickly though, unless you visit a video store that's not really frequented by people.

January 14, 2014

Dark Horse's Game of Thrones figures

I've recently seen the figures to be released by Dark Horse from the Game of Thrones series. They're quite nice and pretty affordable given their details and size. The figures' heights range between 6" to 9", depending on the character but they're all priced at $24.99.

I just wonder if they'll be available locally...and how much they'll end up costing.

The ones to be released this week are:

 Character: Daenerys Targaryen
Origin: Game of Thrones
Manufacturer: Dark Horse
Height: 7.5"
Release Date: 01/22/2014
Preorder: Amazon

 Character: Jon Snow
Origin: Game of Thrones
Manufacturer: Dark Horse
Height: 7.5"
Release Date: 01/22/2014
Preorder: Amazon

The other figures lined up for preorder soon include Ned Stark, Khal Drogo and Tyrion Lannister.

Blu-ray discs on sale

Local video stores are selling some blu-ray titles for Php499 each until supplies last. Local video stores mean Odyssey and the Astro franchise.

We asked why they were selling the discs for roughly 1/3 the original price and the saleslady said that the company handling the titles were giving them up to another company. It's basically a liquidation sale.

Of course, boyfriend and I didn't pass up on the chance to load up on blu-ray discs...

disney, brave, tangled, blu-ray, tron, oz, lion king, sorcerer apprentice
Yep, all Disney movies. Clockwise from the left:

  1. Lion King 2: Simba's Pride
  2. Brave
  3. The Sorcerer's Apprentice 
  4. Tron 
  5. Tangled 
  6. Oz: The Great and Powerful 
Other titles that we saw include Little Mermaid 2, Frankenweenie, Up, Alice in Wonderland... And a few non-animated movies that I can't really recall for some reason. 

January 10, 2014

Star Wars Captain Han Solo Hoth Ver.

And he's up for pre-order!

star wars han solo hoth
Character: Han Solo
Origin: Star Wars
Version: Hoth
Scale: 1/6 (12")
Manufacturer: Sideshow Collectibles

There will be two versions for the Hoth Han Solo: one wearing the brown parka as shown in the picture above, and the other, a blue parka:

star wars han solo hoth

The accessories that come in the box are:
  • Prometheus Body
  • Detailed Portrait with Headgear and goggles
  • Detailed Hooded Brown/Blue Parka with rank badge
  • Detailed Cold Weather garments
  • Two scarves
  • Belt with pistol holster and detachable droid caller
  • Two part sculpted boots
  • Binoculars with fabric strap
  • Life scanner with both retracted and extended antennae
  • DL-44 Blaster (Han Version)
  • Right Trigger Hand
  • Right C-Grip Hand
  • Right Large C-Grip
  • Right Reach Hand
  • Left Fist
  • Left C-Grip
  • Left Large C-Grip
  • Left Reach Hand
  • Sculpted Snow environment Base Hugger
  • Figure Support Base
  • Exclusive Accessory: Detailed Portrait without headgear
Preorder is up at Sideshow Collectibles:
Hoth Han Solo - Blue Parka
Hoth Han Solo - Brown Parka

January 6, 2014

Camera upgrade!

I finally decided to upgrade my camera. I've been using a Canon IXUS 115 and it has been my companion whether I'm out traveling or when I'm taking hobby-related pictures.

It's a good camera and I have no complaints but as I traveled more, I found that there are limitations to a point-and-shoot camera. My recent trip to Cambodia proved that. Temples were big and sculptures high up; my 115 couldn't produce a zoomed-in picture that isn't grainy. 

So the search began.

I'm not that into photography - all I wanted was to preserve memories of the things I saw. I don't even like taking pictures of people. My criteria for a good camera was easy to fulfill:
  1. I could zoom in without compromising the picture quality 
  2. A higher resolution than my 115's 12.1 MP 
  3. A small and lightweight body 
With those, boyfriend suggested either the EOS M or the EOS 100D. After much deliberation and to cut the long story short, I decided to get the EOS M.


The kit comes with a 22mm 'pancake' lens and a lens adapter for the EF and EF-S lenses. Having the adapter means that I can borrow my dad and sister's lenses.(If I want the extra weight.)

I got the white one coz black is boring

Side-by-side with my now-backup IXUS 115

The lens adapter

Still the lens adapter

We tried shooting sample shots and they came out wonderfully! Hopefully I can take shots of my toys over the weekend so I can show how happy I am with my new camera.

I do apologize for the picture quality. These pictures were taken using my Xperia Z Ultra that has a sucky 8MP camera.

Here, have a happy box:



January 5, 2014

On selling gadgets

Boyfriend and I went to Greenhills earlier today to try and sell his Samsung Note 2. He recently got a new phone, an Xperia Z Ultra LTE, similar to mine except for the LTE part.

It was my first time experiencing the whole selling process in the cellphone stalls in Virra Mall. The Note 2 is an old phone model so I didn't expect all the attention from the different stall owners. They were actually bidding on the phone so I think we were able to get a good price for it.

After selling it, boyfriend wanted to go around the usual toy stores to see if there was anything worth buying.

All we were able to buy was one trading figure from Worst.

Welcome to the family! 

Pretty sad, huh? We're running out of toys to buy with the streamlining and all that. I did see a whole other bunch of CrowsXWorst and QP trading figures selling for PHP 3,200 (100 per figure) but I had about half of the set and they weren't breaking it for individual purchases. I didn't have a choice but to skip that.

So I just opted to buy more earrings! 


I should try and catalog all my earrings. Then again, I don't really keep track of the details like the prices and where I bought them, so it will be pretty hard to catalog. Unlike my collection where I've built an Access database just to make the cataloging easier.

But that's a blog post for another day.

January 2, 2014

Yu Yu Hakusho - Kurama

A belated Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all! Better late than never, right?

So anyway, I got Yu Yu Hakusho's Kurama by Kotobukiya a couple of weeks ago. It's a good figure with a good sculpt.


He's part of the ArtFX-J line and so far, they've released 5 characters from the anime: Hiei, Kurama, Yusuke, Kuwabara and of course, Kurama the Fox. I have three out of the five (Hiei and the two Kuramas) because as I think I've mentioned, I'm streamlining.

Moving on, I think the face sculpt could have bit a little bit slimmer than how it currently is.

Still a bishie, so who am I to complain?

As for the pose, he looks pretty badass, with all the "movement" of his clothes and hair. Oh yes, the hair looks perfect, by the way...all that silvery goodness that has a gradient gray color scheme.

The figure also comes with an extra arm, so you can change the way he's posed. One's the "BANG!" arm that I've used in the pictures while the other one's what I call the "Rawr" arm.

"RAWR..."

Onto the base. I found Fox Kurama's base to be a bit unstable compared to the other two Yu Yu figures that I have. It's elevated from the center; a circular 'leg' extends a half-inch away from the edge of the base. This made it harder to attach the figure to the pegs on the base as it occasionally tilted when I was fitting the feet in.

Ethereal print for an ethereal character

Oh right, the box. Meh, it's plain.

And to end this post, here are a few more crappy shots: