Update: Isshu Region for Pokemon Black & White

The ISSHU Region
Picture courtesy of serebii.net

Update: Here's a bigger view of the Isshu Region for Pokemon Black and White version...game will be released end of year 2010 for Nintendo DS LITE, DSi and soon on 3DS.

Confirmed: Charice on Glee

Charice always has big surprises to us Filipinos. After being a huge hit in Youtube and making a big name in the US (after appearing in Oprah and Ellen's show), the young Billboard chart topper will join the cast of the 2nd season of Fox's multi-awarded musical comedy series GLEE. Earlier this year, she denied rumors through her twitter that she will join the cast but later on tried to audition and made it to the show. She will play as an foreign exchange student who became Rachel Berry's (Lea Michele) rival. Looks like a big competition to me...considering Charice's big voice and high hitting notes vs. Lea Michele big voice too accompanied with big self-centered ego =p

The internet today has this as a big headline for the entertainment world. Of course, there were several mixed reactions to this event. Sad to say but most Filipinos like Charice often gave the negative reactions. Can't we just get rid of our crab mentality? In my part, I never criticized my fellow Filipinos just because they will be in the big scene while I'm not. People often comment that she will not be a good actress, that she is awkward to look or she will look just like a "yaya" or "Kokey" once she joins the Glee cast. Well, Glee is a series solely focused on the individual's talents and not the looks. And when it comes to talent, Charice's powerful voice is the one to beat compared to the main cast as of the moment. With acting, everyone can learn it. We might be surprised, since she will train and have acting workshops in Hollywood, she might become better than our local actors and actresses here in the Philippines. We just have to see it first before we judge her.

I never took GLEE seriously before, in terms of continuously watching during Wednesday nights on Star World. But the songs and covers from pop songs to broadway musicals are simply amazing, I even had copies of them on my phone to listen everyday and eventually having last song syndromes by the end of the day . Now with Charice as part of the crew, it came to my attention that I should be religiously watching the next season. Not only that I am Filipino and proud of her talent, I also like her voice.

Z-i-V Summer contest 2010

Zenius-i-Vanisher is a music gaming news site which I am active from time to time because it gives me updates and news about dance simulation games such as Dance Dance Revolution, Pump It Up and any other music simulation games. It is also an online forums for players around the world for game discussions, simfile creations and chit-chats for anything and everything under the sun.

Last May 3rd, the website (c/o user Pandemonium X) started a project called Z-i-V (short for Zenius-I-vanisher) Summer contest 2010 which will showcase user's skills to create DDR simfiles from songs which were not included in the main DDR series. This will allow players to express their simfile making skills to showcase the songs they like to be included in the main game. Every week, there will be a category which simfile makers will follow as a criteria. this week was licenses category, which will allow us to create simfiles from licensed songs from famous artist all over the world. I happened to be a simfile maker myself for quite some time (almost 3 years now). I actually have created a total of 70 songs already which I also published on that website for users to download. For this contest, I decided to pass one of my better stepped files. And this song is one of those songs that became really famous during the Korean Pop invasion, even made it to the top 10 of last year's year ender countdown in MYX.

Here's the banner and background I submitted for Sorry Sorry by Super Junior.



Update: The simfile won 1st place for the week..hehe i guess I never knew I was good in synching steps with songs =)

Corny jokes..that will make you laugh..

For your daily dose of Corny-ness, visit this website


Corn-inator

New Region revealed in the Pokemon World

Another Corocoro scan in Bulbapedia website and Serebii.net. This is the first overview of the new region called Isshu in the Pokemon World, the setting for the upcoming games Pokemon Black and White. Also, additional information were released for Reshiram and Zekrom, Zorua and Zoruark, and some new features in the game.

This is Isshu, much nicer in graphics and i do hope they will include this in the game. Isshu is seemed to be pattern with the Middle East location. Cities and countries near a dessert and separated by bodies of water. The city in the bottom middle portion is Huin City, which also resembles Dubai.

Here are also some additional information about Pokemons and the new features,

* Reshiram is a Dragon & Fire-type type. It is the White Yang Pokémon It is 3.2m and 330kg. It has the new TurboBlaze (ターボブレイズ) Ability

* Zekrom is an Dragon & Electric-type as predicted.. It is the Black Yin Pokémon. It is 2.9m and 345kg. It has the Terra Voltage (テラボルテージ) ability

**To get Zorua, you will need to send over the Celebi from the upcoming movie to Black & White. It is obtained at Level 10

**Zorua knows the attacks Leer, Scratch, Pursuit & Fake Tears **Zoroark knows Fury Swipes, Faint Attack, Scary Face, Taunt and a new attack; Night Burst (ナイトバ-スト)

**There is a new feature called the C Cog which allows you to play with various connection capabilites. To what end is not known, but there is a screenshot of the player in the Pokémon Centre with various connection stats at the bottom.

**In this game Global Terminal is now called "Random Match". It just says that you can play freely with people from all over the country in random match mode. Then says that in spring 2011 that foreign players will join. The Global Terminal is now also located in the Pokémon Centres.

JOVIT grabbed the PGT Grand title

MY bet won! hehe..And so is everyone else that I knew who believed in Jovit Baldivino. The 16 year old won the 2 Million pesos prize. He garnered 48.18% of the text votes, a full force from the JOVINATICS and the TFC subscribers, a very far number compared to Velasco Brothers who got only 15% of the total votes. Here's another review of the results night for Pilipinas Got Talent results night.

The show was hosted by Luis and Iya instead of Billy. I don't know what happened to him. I wasn't able to watch the opening number of the show which was according to TV Patrol just this evening, Robin Padilla did an aerial performance. I was in a bowling game that time and only was able to watch the first set of performance of the finalists. it was a song number from Marc Abaya, partnered with Keith as his guitarist. keith showed off his rocker skills again, thank God he did not sing lol. Jeline performed with Rocksteady with the song "Superhero" with her on violin. Ezra Band performed with Juvis of MYMP and Jovit performed with Sugarfree. The performance is good, considering they were paired up perfectly with the singers/band.

Second set of performance was a dance number from Baguio Metamorphosis, Velasco Brothers, Alakim, and Ruther/Titoy. The latter two did not dance of course, as Ruther and Nitoy introduced the number..and Alakim did his magic tricks in front of background ballet dancers. Meta and Velasco are well in tuned with the choregraphy as they danced with the Maneuvers.

The last set of performance was from Gary V singing ballads with the Luntayao family, Sherwin, Markki and Ingrid. And what a surprise, only Sherwin can keep up with Pure energy's balladeer voice.

It was nice to know that ABS is becoming more generous..the 9 finalists with the lowest text votes did not went home empty handed. Each person/group won 50,000 pesos as a consolation. The top 3 contestants were announced and it was Jovit, Velasco and Meta. Velasco and Meta won each with P100,000 as runners up. When Kris asked Jovit if he wants to be an actor, wants to have Sarah as a loveteam, or a teleserye and a permanent stay in ASAP XV, the overwhelmed winner simply just said "Lahat po!" which gave everyone a good laugh. He did sang his song piece "Too Much Love Will Kill You" again which was better than the finale night. The show overall was not dragging, and not boring. Congrats Jovit Baldivino!

PGMA appears in Marvel

The first Filipino personality to appear in Marvel's Secret Invasion (and in all Marvel comics) is none other than our former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo =)

I got this photo from one of my Facebook friends who tagged me. According to the source, the artist was Leinil Yu who included her Excellency in the comic script. Now what is the "Skrull" that she is talking about? Well I did a small research. Thanks to Google and Marvel.com.

Small excerpt from Marvel site:

"The Skrulls are an extraterrestrial humanoid race who have created a vast interstellar empire, the oldest known empire still in existence, within the Andromeda Galaxy."
for more info please read www.marvel.com/universe/skrulls

Now I'm wondering who will be next? It might be Manny Pacquiao or Kris Aquino LOL

Pilipinas definitely Got Talent

Last night was the grand finals of the "biggest" reality talent show in the country, Pilipinas Got Talent. As a franchise of the world's famous Got Talent series, ABS-CBN never fails to reach the expectations of the public when it comes to showcasing a great and entertaining finale for their shows. The grand finals was held in Araneta Coliseum and took place for 3 hours, considering there were 12 contenders for the P12 Million grand prize. I will be giving my personal review of last night shows and how I ranked the performances of the night. These are just my OWN opinions on the contestants.

The night started off with an opening dance number from one of the judges. It was Ai Ai de las Alas which sang a medley of Lady Gaga's hits (Bad Romance, Just Dance and Telephone). Next u was the one-by-one performances of the finalists. The photos below are already in order of my top 1 to top 12 contenders

The Top 12 Finalists

Jovit Baldivino

Big things come in small packages. And this statement is proven by this young Batangueño. This 16 year siomai vendor amazed us during his auditions with "Faithfully" by Journey and gave a powerful rendition of "Carrie" by Europe in the semi-finals. Last night, he performed "Too Much Love Can Kill You" by Queen. And what do you know, he did hit it again. What I like about this guy is he's very humble despite the fact that he already set the record of the most watched contestant in Youtube during his auditions in Batangas. Last night, I can say I am already a JOVINATIC (term used for someone who is a Jovit fan). Kris Aquino is somehow true, that he will be the next big superstar.

Velasco Brothers

Breakdance, Hiphop, Acrobatic stunts. These 4 brothers always have the factor to wow the audience with their moves. They already performed outside the country before but chose to go back home to showcase their talents in PGT. And they have a positive response from the people. Last night's performance was a combination of all their moves from the auditions and semifinals. They were Ai-ai's choice for the prize..but it still depends on the people who will vote. I chose them as my second choice since I am also into dancing. And I really like their performance..astg!

Allan "Alakim" de la Paz

The butterfly magician performed first during the grand finale. He did his usual turning of things into butterfly..but what everyone wasn't expecting for the night was when he disappeared on stage, and appeared afar from it...In the middle of the audience on the upper bench of Araneta Coliseum. It was indeed a great way to start the night and to keep the audience on hype. Even I was shocked and amazed with his magic act. He said that he wished people will not forget him even he did perform first. Well, that act was surely worth remembering.

Baguio Metamorphosis

The biggest group to join in this finale is a dance troupe. Provided one week of preparations, it was just sad that they were not able to create a new routine for the finale. But the energy, synchronicity and choreography still amazes me. One of their advantages as a group is that they work as a team. Even if it was the same routine as their semi-finals performance, you will never fail to stick your eyes on your TV screen just to watch the dance.

Maria Jeline Oliva

The youngest performer of the season is not just a violinist. She is also a drummer and a pianist at the same time. What made her performance outstanding is that she used "Flight of the Bumblebee" as her contest piece incorporating her violin, piano and drum skills in one song. This is one of the hardest songs/classic songs to perform and she did it. At a young age, I'm sure she's gonna go a long way.

Luntayao Family

The only contender from Visayas which also came from my province. These family is a power house of sopranos and tenors. They sang "Listen" by Beyonce during the auditions and semi-finals and "The Impossible Dream" last night. I find the young one named Charle a funny but amazing kid. He used to sit down the stage to hit the notes and last night, he did turn around and jumped just to reached the last high note of the song. Such a cute kid.

EZRA Band

The acoustic band from Davao performed "Runaway" by The Corrs last night. It was a good performance, considering it was Kaye's (vocalist) first ever rendition of a girl song, and she hit it. Nor (keyboardist) who has impairment in the hands (deformed fingers) was amazing since it shows to prove that disabilities could not stop us from reaching our dreams. As Kris said, a keyboardist is one of the vital members of a band..and Nor did a great job despite of his condition. Ai-ai's comment "Kahit hindi pwede banggitin ang pangalan mo Nor (Knorr) kasi Maggi kami.." made me laugh. Ai-ai and Kris are endorsers for Maggi and Knorr is their competitor. Rules in advertising 101 hehehe.

Rupert Urquia and Titoy

The only ventriloquist who had made it in the finals gave us a good laugh of the night. i really find this kinds of people amazing since only a few can perform such skill with perfection. He also brought along Lolo (another doll) with him. Overall performance was entertaining.

Sherwin Baguion

I never liked this guy during the semi-finals. He was the one who got the judge's vote despite the fact that he screwed up during his repeat performance during the results night. But he stood up last night as one of those who myou can consider a perfect balladeer. He never did miss a note however he sang the same song he had during audition which is "Tayong Dalawa". He could have chosen another ballad song.

Markki Stroem

This guy sang "Like a Prayer" by Madonna accompanied by a choir and also performed the song using a saxophone. He has the voice but when the choir sang along with him, his voice was swallowed by the group. The song choice was great, a very good song for his voice which also reminded me of Glee's version. It's one of my favorite classic songs to date.

Keith Clark Delleva

This guy is sure a rocker. But I just wished he did not sing last night. It was one of the downs of his performance. He has a good voice but a very low pitch for Santana's "Smooth. He's guitar playing however is awesome. I think the judges did not comment much on his singing since it was the finale and they wanted to set the mood right. But as judge's they should have advised him of that one.

Ingrid Payaket

I chose this as the weakest performance of the night. It was not that bad but compared to other contenders, this has much less of the highlights we are expecting from her. She sang "On my Own" by Leah Salonga and it was just an ok performance. It was a good one if it were in a singing contest but for Pilipinas got talent, it was just a simple performance. And before her performance, during the interview of Luis and Billy with her mom, something funny happened. When asked what does she feel about her daughter getting the last ticket for the finale, Ingrid's mom was taken aback, took a moment of pause to comprehend the question and asked back "Yung ticket po na nakuha namin?" which is definitely not the answer to the question. It took a few more seconds before she was back on track with the conversation. LOL!

The first season is about to end and the winner will be announced later tonight. Who will win the first Pilipinas Got Talent title? Let's wait and see..

Update: 5th Generation additional Pokemon scans

Man, they look awkward now. It seems the illustrators for Pokemon are not getting new and fresh ideas. The new Pokemon are not that awesome for me except for a few. Here are some of my opinions on the new released monsters. Photos courtesy of CoroCoro Scans and Serebii.net. Text and all other information is from Serebii.net too. Names are in Japanese, English names not yet released.

Chimaii (チラーミィ) - The Chinchilla PoKemon

Type: Normal
Height: 0.4m Weight: 5.8kg
Abilities: Cute Charm & Technician
New Moves: Sweet Slap - multiple turn attacks

Munna (ムン ナ) - The Dream Eater Pokemon

Type: Psychic
Height: 0.6m Weight: 23.3kg
Abilities: Forewarn & Synchronize
New Moves: Telekinesis - makes the opponent float in the air

Gear (ギアル) - The Gear Pokémon
Type: Steel
Height: 0.3m Weight: 21.0kg
Abilities: Plus & Minus
New Moves: Gear saucer - multiple turn attack

Mamepato (マメパト) - The Baby Pigeon Pokémon
Type: Normal/Flying
Height: 0.3m Weight: 2.1kg
Abilities: Super Luck and *Pigeon Heart - new, prevent Defense stat from lowering

Hihidaruma (ヒヒダルマ) - The Flaming Pokémon
Type: Fire
Height: 1.3m Weight:92.9kg
Abilities: Encourage

Meguroko (メグロコ) - The Desert Crocodile
Type: Ground/Dark
Height: 0.7m Weight: 15.2kg
Abilities: Intimidate & *Earthquake Spiral - raises Attack when opponent is Knocked Out

Shimama (シママ)- - The Charge Pokémon
Type: Electric
Height: 0.8m Weight: 92.9kg
Abilities: Lightning Rod & Motor Drive
New Moves: Wild Bolt - Electric attack with recoil

** The new Professor Dr. Araragi (アララギ博士 ) has a Chiramii

These are yet to be confirmed but with all these information, i guess this would surely push through. Pokemon is starting to turn out from being great to slowly declining. I can tell since I am definitely a fan. But then, it's still Pokemon. I still love them ^_^ I personally like Chimaii and Gear from this list when it comes to appearance.

It's Aquino - the second time around..

Another Aquino made history. After the successful first automated elections in the history of the Philippines (but later on lead to the manual canvassing of votes in the Congress) and a total of 14 Million votes last May 10, 2010, Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III is proclaimed the 15th President of the Republic of the Philippines.


I am not one of the 14 million Filipinos who supported Noynoy's campaign during the elections. I am for Gibo Teodoro and will still hope to have him as the next President after Noynoy, if ever he runs again. I always see Noynoy's "running" for the presidency as an good opportunity for him because it was during the the time that her mom died when he decided to also run for the position. Plus the fact that his close media (of course with the help of his sister Kris Aquino) would definitely amuse the public and get their votes. Anyways, he has always been my next option after Gibo so I would settle for his leadership.

Noynoy may not be the best senator during his time, but his presence was believed by the Filipinos. He is always the target of controversies especially those related to his mental condition, his vices especially smoking and of course, being tangled to Kris's showbiz and personal life issues. How much more will it take now that he is the country's most powerful individual? The Filipino people will have all eyes on him, on how he would uplift the country's status after nine years under President Arroyo's regime.

I wish President Noynoy the best of luck for his journey. I hope all his dreams of putting an end to poverty, corruption and injustice in this country will be a reality. It may not be instant but it is not impossible.

SYTYCD Goes All-Stars

This season is a big change for So You Think You Can Dance. This is the 7th season and Nigel Lythgoe, the producer and judge of the show, made major changes that will definitely affect the viewing audience. For me, evolution/change is good..since for the past six seasons SYTYCD always has the same format. This is definitely one season to look forward into.

Judges will only choose the top 10 contenders instead of the usual top 20. They will be partnered with 10 previous SYTYCD contestants who had been well known for their individual dance genre. Only one, not two, dancer will leave the competition every week. Their dance style for the week will depend on their partners, rather than picking for their dance genre. As for the judges, Mia Michaels will replace Mary Murphy (I'm gonna miss here hot tamale train scream).

The All Stars Dance Pool is one of the exciting changes for me this season. Of course, I will have the chance to see some of my favorites to perform again. These are Lauren Gottlieb (Jazz & Hiphop), Dominic Sandoval (Dtrix from Quest Crew), Mark Kanemura (Jazz), and Courtney Galiano (Contemporary). Can't wait to watch it on AXN Asia soon.

The All Stars Dance Pool

Movie Review: Prince of Persia, The Sands of Time

I have been waiting for this film for a long time since the trailer was released in the Internet and on TV. I had played Prince of Persia before on Playstation, so it's quite interesting to see full action on the reel. Watched it last Sunday after we went home from out Hinoba-an getaway. Here are my own opinions and feedback on the film.


Director: Mike Newell, the man behind Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, directed this film. Well, I say he did a great job. HP4 is my all time favorite movie among the the 6 sequels of Harry Potter (well, so far..let's see how Deathly Hollows would beat its predecessors).

Characters: It was never too racy for me. Color or race is not an issue on this film. Even if Jake Gyllenhaal is not Persian, and has no Persian blood at all, he did justice on the character. Dastan is the combination of your brave, funny and witty character. And Gyllenhall has that acting prowess. It's kinda funny I still remember him on Brokeback Mountain though..hehe quite a laugh. Tamina is played by Gemma Artenton. She is quite a good actress herself..just like her role in Clash of the Titans as Io. She's beautiful..got me starstruck! Other characters such as Tus (played by Richard Cole), Sheik Amar, the one who runs the ostrich racing business..and funny one too (played by Alfred Molina FYI he is Doc Oct in Spiderman 2), Garsiv, his envious brother (played by Toby Kebell), and Nizam, the antagonist uncle (Ben Kingley) did a great job too.

Setting: The setting (even if it is, of course, with Adobe After Effects, is outstanding. It reminds me of Arabia from Aladdin which features terrific temples and crowded streets of merchants. The special effects are also believable..the fight scenes, the desert, the mountains are all real-looking. Thanks to the wonders of Adobe hehehe.

If I am going to rate the movie with 5 stars as the highest rating, I give it 4.5. It is almost perfect. Nothing is perfect so I won't give it a 5 hehehe. I never regret watching the film. it is a must see.

The Last Breath of Summer

Summer of 2010 has been the most stressful summers in my life. I think I'm not the only one who can attest to that. The weather is so intense that even electric fans and ACs could not alleviate the heat. Seasonal to routine blackouts hit the city, and not only that..water supply in our area goes along with the blackout. Cable service are turning on and off also because of the routine blackouts. Again, this is so far the worst summer I have ever experienced.

But not all things turned out that bad. The summer heat still provided me ways to enjoy it. and one of these is to experience SAND BEACH and the mighty SUN all in one. My team for technical support decided to have our very first teambuilding. We did have a 5 hour ride from Bacolod City to the southernmost town of Negros which is Hinoba-an. The beach was Eden South Resort overlooking the Sulu Sea. It was an overnight stay accompanied with drinking sessions, grilled food and of course swimming under the sun.

Click this link for additional photos by me, Edzel Mae Orsais and Asfrin Cardinal.

Album 1

Album 2

Album 3