Status: Delighted
Music: The Sweet Escape - Gwen Stefani feat Akon

Walking along the series of (pirated) DVD stores in Shaw Boulevard, I spotted something I’d been looking for since the advent of anime series in DVD — B’t X. Ten years ago, B’t X was shown in the Philippines on ABS-CBN. Actually, at first, I wasn’t sure if I would want to watch it since it replaced my favourite anime show then, Zenki. But not long after its pilot episode I began being hooked and couldn’t help but wait for 4pm in front of the television. It was 1997. Ten years later, only a few people that I know remember this series. It was sad because I really think that B’t X is one incredible anime program.

To refresh your memory, B’t X tells the story of Teppei whose brother, Professor Kotaro Takamiya, is abducted and brought to the centre of the Machine Empire. Teppei then accidentally revives the legendary winged-horse B’t (intelligent robots for battles) X. Ergo, B’t X. Every warrior in the Machine Empire has a B’t dedicated to serving its master. Teppei travels towards the centre of the area to save his brother. But along the way, he meets the Four Great Knights, and so many other characters and their B’ts. Soon, Teppei realises that his mission is not just to save his brother from certain death, but to save the world from Rafael / Rafaello, the ultimate B’t created by the Emperor that becomes so dangerous it could destroy the planet if not killed soon.

I was so excited when I went home and began my B’t X marathon. Suddenly, childhood memories started to be awakened. When I was young, more than Teppei, I admired the Four Great Knights.

1. Fou Lafini of the South. A priest. B’t Je t’aime, phoenix. Secretly in love with Karen. Plays the violin really well. His bow is his ultimate weapon.
2. Ron of the West. A passionate warrior. B’t Raido, dragon. Very loyal to the Emperor. Excellent martial artist. His ultimate weapon is his lance.
3. Dr. Hokuto of the North. The Master Doctor. B’t Max, turtle, the largest and strongest B’t in the empire. A dignified and dedicated physician, who ironically is also terribly sick.
4. Karen of the East. The traitor to the Empire. B’t X, a pegasus. Discovered that B’t Rafael is not created to unite the world but to destroy it. A fugitive. While in hiding, she trained Teppei, who saved her life, to become a very good warrior.

When I was watching this a decade ago, I was really afraid of the two young villains — two kids, in fact: Misha and Nasha. They were the emperor’s representatives and are always in charge. 

Until now, B’t X remains to be one of my all-time favourite anime [ along with Fullmetal Alchemist, God(?) Save Our King, and Samurai X ].

Picture courtesy of: all4seiya.com

Status: Delighted
Music: Wait for You - Elliott Yamin

I’d been waiting for April 1 since March started. I already had a text message saved on my phone waiting for April Fool’s Day. So when the day finally arrived, I excitedly sent them to some of my friends and colleagues.

I’m really sorry to all who lost their minds worrying about me — especially Misha (Jann Mikhail Lecaros) and Maw (Michelle Ann Wong) who got really angry at me for sending them that message and got them really worried.

Here’s the text message I sent them:

This is Yoshke’s brother. This morning, he passed out inside his bedroom without anybody knowing. It was too late when we found him. He passed away 6:15 am. Apparently, he had rheumatic heart disease. Please come to his wake so we could meet all his close friends. Funeral is on the 6th. Please come.

Misha even called me a bastard. Maw bombarded me with a lot of Tagalog curse words (Putang-ina mo, Yoshke, walang’ya ka). Josh (Joseph de Beauvoir) said I’m a crazy ass fool. Kuya Amiel told me it was not something to joke about.

Misha said, “Where are you right now?” I asked him why. And he answered, “So I could kill you for real.”

Sorry to all who bought my little April Fool’s Day hirit. Congratulations to all who knew it was a bluff. Among them are Frandy and Kid. I was amused by Frandy’s reply: Buti nga sa kapatid mo, ang lakas kasi mag-yosi e.

See this post first. In fairness to ABC5, they already changed their tagline for American Idol. God must have heard all my prayers for them to see the light. They did see the light but not that clear, though. This was their previous tagline:

Find out who will America choose next! 

I told my friends, who used to work for ABC5 and they just laughed at this tagline. Now, their tagline is:

Find out who will be the next American Idol!

Nyahahahaha. Why can’t they figure out that there’s a syntax error? If I showed this to some Grade School students, they would easily detect what is wrong. But I guess, some people never learn.