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Cosplay Mania X’s TOrCH Manila Preliminaries 2010 Winner

Fritz — Sun, 26 Sep 2010 03:21:48 +0000

The biggest Cosplay Tournament in the country will happen in Cosplay Mania X at the SMX, SM Mall of Asia, on October 2-3, 2010. There’s a national cosplay contest division called Cosplay Tournament of Champions (TOrCH) where Regional Qualifying rounds were held in six major cities in the country: Cebu, Davao, Cagayan De Oro, Clark, Baguio, and Manila. One winner is chosen from each venue and all Regional Qualifiers are to compete in the “nationals” on October 3, 2010 (second day of Cosplay Mania X).

The Manila Leg Winners

I was at SM Manila yesterday (Saturday, September 25, 2010) to see what actually happens during the qualifying round. There were 14 hopefuls and the stage presentations were a treat to see. Since only 45% of the contest criteria is allotted for costume detailing and craftsmanship while 40% is set aside for Performance and the remaining 15% for overall impact, winning is practically anybody’s game. The team to represent Manila portrayed Star Ocean’s Arumat (cosplayed by Paul Martin San Diego) and Faize Beleth (cosplayed by Kenji Matsushita), two less commonly attempted cosplays from what I have observed from other local tournaments in the past.

Paul’s costume detailing was top notch from the wig, clothes, shoes, and down to Arumat’s weapon, the scythe. Kenji’s sword and over all look, notwithstanding the wig that fell off during the stage presentation was well pulled off. Both their body frames made the cosplay convincing. Their presentation material’s story line and accompanying BGM was well thought out, complete with two stage hands in black to help them out in some scenes.

Below’s a video capture of the winning team’s presentation. For those with fast internet connection, choose to watch in HD for the full experience (you may view the other photos below first while you let the video buffer). The original BGM used by Paul and Kenji during the contest was used to enhance the sound quality of this vid (via audio overlay), for your added enjoyment. (If you are reading this article from an Email RSS, chances are you will not be able to see the youtube video below)

Photos Onstage and the Perimeter Scene

I don’t know with the rest of the audience but, as an onlooker, I had a hard time guessing who the judges would choose to represent Manila in the National TOrCH cosplay finals. Would they be more inclined to just look at the costume or observe the original criteria as prescribed? There were several intricately designed cosplays, overwhelming mechas, precise attempts at duplication, and really good performances of the 14 who joined. After hours of waiting, when Team Star Ocean was announced (this is Kenji’s first cosplay and the first time for both Paul and Kenji to win a cosplay tournament), in my mind I was like YOU GUYS GOT THAT RIGHT!!1one

So, Star Ocean fans, are you excited to see Arumat and Faize on the stage during the finals? You may NOT see those characters during the championships because, like all other regional contestants, everybody is being given an option to perform as characters other than the ones they won the regionals with. I hope that Team Avatar and Team Black Rock Shooter would stick with theirs. The suspense makes going to Cosplay Mania X even more compelling, don’t you think? ;)

See you on October 2-3 in CosMania X! Below are some more photos from the TOrCH Manila Preliminaries 2010. (Left click on a thumbnail to see the full-sized image. Some photos may take a third click to load correctly. Thanks!)

Super Junior Super Show 2 “Chu~” Performance Vid (HD)

Fritz — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 04:23:31 +0000

The second and last vid I’ll post of Super Junior’s Super Show 2 concert is their performance of “Chu~.” Chica, a good friend who also watched the show in the SVIP Dance area commented, “were they just practicing on stage? What the heck were they doing situps with one on top of the other?!” I don’t get it that much either. It’s a fanservice that never fail to give fans the giddys. Notice the way the crowd would shout in deafening chorus when the boys do pseudo-intimacy-ish acts, albeit fleetingly? There you go.

In “Chu~,” their third to the final number (I think), RyeoWook, ShinDong, HeeChul, EunHyuk, and DongHae do their song and dance antics, cross dressed as ladies. Highlights for each might well be: Ryeowook’s dance adlib at the side of the stage (1:08-1:12), Shindong’s stunt (2:25-2:31), Heechul’s kawai pose (2:32), EunHyuk’s “slutty” dance moves – the part that cracked me up the most LOL (1:22-1:32), and Donghae’s final pose at the end of the song (3:05).

As mentioned in my “Sorry, Sorry” performance post, two posts back has all 32 photos I got during Super Junior’s last leg of Super Show 2. This vid and those shots go out to all SuJu fans. Enjoy!

Super Junior Super Show 2 “Sorry, Sorry” Performance Vid (HD)

Fritz — Mon, 12 Apr 2010 02:37:30 +0000

As promised, I’m sharing to the world my video capture of Super Junior’s “Sorry, Sorry” performance during the Super Show 2 held at the Araneta (Manila, Philippines) last Saturday, April 10, 2010. Before this number, Faith asked nonchalantly, “are you going to dance or take a vid because you can only choose one and you can’t back out once you’ve made your choice.” Strict much? LOL!

While the vid was being uploaded and as I was giving it a title, I was hesitant to write “fancam” because I’m not that big of a fan, quite honestly. Since that’s how vid caps were usually tagged, I went on ahead and did it anyway. If you want to see this in its full HD glory, view the full-sized 720p version directly from the youtube page.

One post back has all 32 photos I got during the Super Show. This vid and those shots go out to all SuJu fans. Enjoy!

Year-Ender Post: 2009 in Fritzparazzi Photos

Fritz — Sun, 03 Jan 2010 14:17:53 +0000

Whew! This took too long. I’m sure there’s an easier way out there but I’m old school (i.e. a noob) so I rocked the hard way. If we’ve had interactions in the past year and if in those moments I was crazily snapping away like a loon, then most probably you’ll be in one of the 250 odd “fritzparazzi” photographs I used to come up with this vid. I was too tempted to use photos of other bloggers from most events because I later realized I was missing a month’s worth of pics off my archives, July 2009 to be exact, but thought better. This should do, I hoped.

So I start out with the Baconator and end with a snap of the lunar eclipse that happened on New Year’s Eve. Ok, that’s a lie. The ending’s totally different and I might end up getting killed for having that up LOL. Watch the vid already so you’ll know what I mean.

This one’s for you. For the company, the good times, your work, your craft, your dedication, and your passion. I hope that one day, I could at last measure up with the amount of efforts you have put in this endeavor, with or without Google AdSense.

Happy New Year, everyone! Here’s to a better year ahead of us all. And world peace.

Cheers!

Note: You may want to watch the full HD sized format of this vid straight off its youtube page. You’ll see the detail better that way.

Gang Badoy’s Keynote at the PBAs 2009

Fritz — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 09:43:58 +0000

While we were sat down and upon finding out that Gang Badoy was going to deliver the keynote during last night’s Philippine Blog Awards, I turned to Rico and Jayvee who were beside me and told them, “let’s be prepared, once again, to be awed and inspired.” It was my warning told in “jest” minus the mockery. Having heard Gang deliver her piece three times the past year made me look forward to hearing more from her. It was a privilege to listen to her again last night and “awed and inspired” could well be what everyone else felt soon after she left the stage after saying, “Keep on it. Welcome to the Philippines: One Blogging Nation. Mabuhay kayong lahat.” (EDIT: Gang’s speech in text form can be viewed from her site, in facebook, and at Jayvee’s site).

Here’s a vid cap of Gang’s keynote. I’m so sorry that I only managed to fish my cam out a minute into her speech. I’ll upload the photos I got from last night soon. Congratulations, PBA 2009 committee and to all the winners!

Photos and a LOL Vid (No to Con-Ass Ayala Rally)

Fritz — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 01:30:56 +0000

Thirty minutes after my first video stream, the mobile vibrated a the “Low Battery” prompt. Bummed me out since I went out on full bat from work *sighs*. In my next vidcasts, I’d remember to either to bring a spare (fully-charged) battery or have the phone plugged in somewhere while streaming. Per plurk buddy aajao, “not bad for an initial broadcast.” My thanks to you and those who had to bear with the stream. We had to start testing this technology out on something (no, a scandal vid is out of the question). ANC did a live coverage which I only later on found out. Better quality and more “real time,” since qik.com gave me a 13-minute lag at some point during my broadcast *pfffft*.

Over all, the rally was peaceful. Police were rounding the periphery for both the safety of the surrounding establishments and, most importantly, the rallyists which I found to be a good thing. I felt more secure with them around, really. News said 6,000 people attended. I’d have to agree with this statement, though:

“Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) secretary general Renato Reyes Jr. said the crowd peaked at between 13,000 to 15,000” – from Inquirer.net

Some of people holding office within the Ayala circuit would pass by, linger some, and give a thumbs up gesture to people on the street before leaving for their homes. Some, like several of my colleagues at work, stayed on. I’d say this was bigger than the previous No to ChaCha rally held on the same venue, from the POV of someone who was apparently present in both events (i.e. ME).

The thing that caught more of our attention while we were heading out was this tarpaulin laid down on one side of the street where faces of the Congressmen who said “Yay” to ConAss were printed and shown. Bystanders were free to step on their “favorite” Congressmen’s faces. Some expressed their disgust by doing, um, “creative” things on the photos. Please watch the 3-minute video below to know what I mean.

LOL at the last people on the vid. They were more relentless than the others, IMHO.

Below are the rest of photos I took during the rally. Please hover your mouse on each for the caption.

Congratulations, fellow Filipinos, for a successful rally!

If you didn’t catch the live video stream, do visit my qik channel for the archived clips.