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.

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

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.

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...

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. 

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:

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.

What does the fox say?

Last weekend, the annual Christmas Toy Fair happened in SM Megamall. Boyfriend and I decided to check it out, just to see if there's anything worth buying. Entrance fee was Php50 (a little above a dollar). The Toy Fair occupied only one of the three Megatrade Halls, so the whole place was cramped. (What with some big-ass costumes of some cosplayers.)

We went around. And went around some more. Not finding anything worth buying, we went around one more time. And true to the saying that the third time's the charm, I was able to buy two figures:

Crows' resident badass, Harumichi Bouya

The bounty hunter and the bounty

Yes, those are two small figures that I was able to get for Php200 each. Not a bad deal. Quite sad that this is all that I was able to score. I also saw the Carbonite Han Solo calling card case but I didn't want to shell out Php1500 for something so small which will probably go on sale at some of the online stores by next year. I can wait. We also saw some of those Collectors' Edition Disney dolls (Aladdin and Jasmine, Snow White and Prince Charming, Aurora and Prince Edward(?)) that cost an arm and a leg at Php11,800 each pair. I really wanted the Aladdin/Jasmine one but meh, too expensive.

Despite the depressing Toy Fair hauls, my preorder arrived and was delivered by the ChekwaToys owner:

My favorite fox ever

At least I got the Kurama fox version. So I got 3/5 of the Kotobukiya Yu Yu Hakusho figures. Which is good coz I'm streamlining. *cue sarcastic laugh*

I'll probably post a mini-review of the Kurama figure one of these days.

So, what did the fox say? "BANG."

March Hauls

An impulse buy and a preorder arrived.

Boyfriend and I went to Rockwell last Saturday and I saw that they still have this Han Solo that's MISB:

Hello, Han! You're finally mine!

Out of the box without the antennas on his tracker.

 When I inspected the item at the store, I saw this little paint chip on his scarf:

Which merited a Php400 discount.

Come Sunday, boyfriend and I went to Greenhills to meet up with the Otakai people for the membership card distribution. My item that I asked my friend to get for me from AmiAmi also arrived:

 Hello, 6th Hyakka girl with the big-ass hammer!

On another note, do watch John Carter from Mars!

Habibi

I was finally able to buy Habibi yesterday from Powerbooks. I've been looking for this for a long time now, but the bookstores were always out of stock.

(Plus points that I got 10% off the price because of my new Powercard that I got from Powerbooks for free!)

Comic Night: Lots of Houses

Went to Planet X this evening just to see what they have. Chanced upon the following, so goodbye, money!

House of Mystery Vol. 7: Conception

Cinderella: Fables are Forever #5

House of Night #1

House of Night #2

House of Night #3

And it's so awesome that they had this too. I've been looking for this Han Solo for a long time and it's really good that it came in its original package, magazine included!

Hand-painted DeAgostini Han Solo

Magazine featuring Han Solo

This piece of Han Solo marks my 74th Han Solo figure :D

January Hauls (Part 2)

Boyfriend arrived today with the second half of my January hauls:

Minase Shizuku from Together with Hello Kitty

I got her on sale at Amiami, courtesy of a friend. The details are really good compared to my other HK fig made by Eikoh. Just look at the scooter:

I want this scooter ;_;

More Crows X Worst figures! I got them from Mandarake, again, a courtesy of my friend.

Izaki from Crows Zero.

Sera... Not really a fan but I like his name because one of my dogs is named Sera too :D

Mitsumasa, my favorite among the Moonlight Brothers.

Guriko. No explanations needed.

January Hauls (Part 1)

Boyfriend got me these last Tuesday:

Yep, that's a miniature crystal skull from...

Finally got my own crystal skull! I just need to find the others now.

Also got the following TPBs:

Madame Xanadu volumes 1 to 4:

And to complete my Greek Street TPBs:

 

 

I finished reading the first volume last week, just to see if I'd like the story enough to get the rest of the volumes. I find the plot nice enough -- a modern Greek tragedy that has elements from different Greek works like Medea (the most prominent one) and Oedipus Rex.

I read comics as quickly as I eat a bowl of cereals so I end up buying volumes and running out of space. I had to keep more toys to make room for my books. I really need a decent library when I get my own house.

Now if only they'd make Fables volume 16 available soon.

Kidrobot for Swatch watch

I initially didn't know whether to post this here or at my other (more personal) blog, but since there's a toy involved, I decided to put it here to stay true to the whole "toys and figures" thing haha.

Boyfriend bought me another Christmas present: a KidrobotXSwatch watch that I've been eying for quite some time now. I didn't buy it because I just received a new Swatch for my birthday this year.

Happy happy~

Inside the plastic box~

There are 8 designs in this series. The one that I got is called Love Song by Tilt, a French graffiti artist. Each one comes with its own Dunny that has the same design as the watch.

Side-by-side

DUNNY. Really colorful Dunny.

The Dunny isn't made of vinyl as I expected it to be though. It's made of plastic, seamlines and all. Quite light too. The paint job is decent, however, so it's a plus point.

Here are a few other pictures of the watch (along with my Strawberry Switchblade):