"KNIGHT HUNTERS" IS BACK: IS IT JUST ME, OR...

The moment I saw the teaser on HeroTV that they were going to bring back the 8-year old Telesuccess-bought Knight Hunters [Weiss Kreuz to the rest of the anime-loving world], I was quite excited. 8 years ago, this was the anime that made me interested in watching Tagalized anime with its witty dubbing and cool plot. It was the first time I heard an anime where the Tagalog dubbing was quite modern and contemporary.

Hindi ko nalilimutan na abangan ang fateful day na ipapalabas ng HeroTV ito and today was it. Dec. 27. Saturdays at 12:30 pm. May replay pa mamaya at 5:30 pm para sa mga hindi ito naabutan. Di lang ako sure kung meron pa rin bukas...

Halata talaga na by today's standards, medyo makaluma na rin ang dubbing. Although nung panahon na yun, makabago pa ito. Westernized ang mga names ng guests - Marlon, Enrico, Michelle...

Pero is it just me dahil tumanda na ako or nawalan na talaga ng "cool factor" ang mga shows na ganito? Dati kasi, I found these guys to be cool. Vigilantes ba naman e. The idea of silent weapons was also a plus. Pero ngayon, I think of 4 guys na laging magkasama and WORKING IN A FLOWER SHOP... Yech... it's so gay! As in Queer Eye!!! Heheheh And I'm sure madaming sumusulat ng kabadingang fanfic tungkol sa mga lalaking ito...

MASASAYANG VOLTES V

i dont know why i got to start thinking about this this morning. basta naaalala ko yung nabanggit ko sa CV5 forum the other day about how sa movie na TOY STORY, the happy toys are the ones that have been played with at nilamog sa kalalaro while the sad toys are the ones that were never taken out of the box.

if you think about it, nung bata ka pa, your toy, kung may buhay lang yan, is practically your friend. if a girl sometimes talks to her doll, boys treat their robots like their friend, or their hero, etc. at the very least, parang tao na rin ang trato nila sa toy nila.

my nephew, when he was little, asked me to buy him an action figure and he loved it so much na he was hugging it while he was asleep.

so dun ko naisip, na our toys are also like friends in that regard... the friends that are more dear to us, are the ones we went through a lot with, lagi nating kinakausap, the ones we did a lot with together, kumbaga sa latuan, yun nga yung mga pinaglaruan talaga.

where as the friend who is not so dear to us, like the toy that was hardly played with and just stayed unopened in the cabinet for years, are the friends na parang acquaintance lang... kinilala mo syang kaibigan. but you guys never did anything together, you rarely talked, he doesnt really know anything about you, hindi mo napagsasabihan ng problema, hindi mo maaasahan kapag kelangan mo ng tulong, etc.

which brings me to the "happy voltes v's"...

if the happy toys are the ones na talagang pinaglaruan at nilamog, then the godaikin voltes v must be one of the happiest toys in the world. if you check in ebay, or if you ever see someone selling off their old godaikin voltes v, halos lahat ng makikita mo ay lamog-lamog na. kinakalawang pa yung iba. the joints are loose dahil paulit ulit syang vinolt-in at vinolt-out. madaming gasgas dahil ang dami na nyang beast fighter na pinagpapatay. madami na syang kulang na weapons dahil sa daming "battles" na pinagdaanan nila ng owner nya. the paint is worn out, the stickers are worn out, all signs na the owner really loved it and played with it...

and to top it all off, nobody EVER wants to sell it cheap. it means the owner really values it and expects to be paid a lot to let go of it [not just coz the market value is big]

when we were kids, we never even considered that we would never open our toys and just keep them in the closet. we always wanted to open them and play with them. and that is what toys are truly for...

to me that's proof na a toy, whether it's really cheap or as high end or expensive as an SOC, is meant to be played with. madami sa atin ang nagsasabi, when there is an EB and we bring our old godaikins na lasog-lasog na... we always say, we didnt know that it would be worth so much one day so we "didnt take care of it". we may not have known back then na ganun ang magiging market value nyan ngayon, but we always knew it was priceless.

MY FAVORITE KUNG FU FIGHT SCENE

When I was a kid, my uncle the tech-geek bought us a betamax machine and not too long after that, we were renting tapes at Virra Mall by the box. Isa sa pinakamaraming klase ng movie na inaarkila para sa amin ng tito ko is English dubbed Kung fu movies, and I've been hooked to watching it ever since.

Just to be clear, I love martial arts pero I dont and never planned to learn it. I am just fascinated in watching it and it's usually the moves that are graceful yet not practical in real combat at all that catch my attention.

This movie, when I saw it, was titled SNAKE FIST VS THE DRAGON. I liked it so much that we bought the copy from the rental place. 20 years later, I wanted to see it again and it was only 'coz I watched it so many times that I realized na si John Cheung pala yung bida dito. He was also the bad guy in DRAGON: THE BRUCE LEE STORY [the guy with the long hair that Bruce had to duel with so he could be allowed to teach kung fu to foreigners]. So after a lot of googling, I found the international title of this movie. it was called SNAKE IN THE MONKEY'S SHADOW. Mas tama nga naman ito kasi wala namang Dragon Style doon sa movie. Well, he combined drunken style with monkey style, I guess that way he was wise enough to be called a dragon... well it's still a stretch.

Anyway, I found the final battle scene on Youtube and I just wanted to blog about it.

This past week, I had an infection from a wound in my toe and the infection literally infected my whole body. My whole body was in a lot of pain. It felt like the flu, only worse. Hindi ako makagalaw ng hindi nasasaktan. Kahit umubo lang ako ay masakit na. Totoo nga naman yung joke na kahit anong edad mo, kapag may sakit ka, para kang bata at gusto mong manood ng mga paborito mong palabas nung bata ka. Since nadownload ko na itong movie na ito a long time ago, ilang beses kong pinanood ang scene na ito and it's made me feel better.

Nakakatuwa lang sya talaga panoorin. Imagine i was about 8 when I saw this and I thought it was way cool. Nanood lang sya ng unggoy at natuto na sya ng Kung Fu. Hehehe! Well, tinuruan din naman sya ng drunken style ng isang master talaga. I remember that when I was in the 2nd grade, I'd mimick the monkey style fighting stance, including the part where he made faces, tapos para akong tanga na nakikipagsuntukan sa school, thinking I was actually gonna win with moves I saw in a movie. Well, bata e.

I found the moves to be so cool, lalo na yung nagfliflip sya in the air kahit wala naman springboard. Saka nung tumugtog na yung music, I used to always get a rush. Sa DRUNKEN MASTER ni Jackie Chan galing yung music, but I saw this movie before that...

It's 7 minute clip. It sounds kind of long, but I never get tired of it. Pagtyagaan nyong panoorin so you can appreciate what I mean. By today, it's nothing compared to let's say, CROUCHING TIGER HIDDEN DRAGON, pero it will always be my favorite Kung Fu fight scene.