Laugh. Dance. Win!

The only time I remember winning a raffle was 9 years ago, at a time when access to anime was limited and being a true fan requires commitment and effort. A group called Anima Anime held monthly anime film showings, at the end of the day, they will have a raffle for premium items. The grand prize can be DVD or OST CD of an anime series or anything that a fan would die for. I won an AXN post-it pad. Sure, it might just be a freebie from AXN, but hey, not everyone gets to own it. So I got excited when I won. To date, I haven't used up all the sheets, I am making sure I keep something as a souvenir because winning a raffle, no matter how small the prize is, happens once in a lifetime. At least for me.

Imagine my surprise when I received an email from 2ndavenue saying I am one of the "lucky" weekly winners of an ongoing promo -Catch the Dancing Ellen Year 4. 2nd Avenue, by the way, is the channel that airs my favorite talkshow (and some of my favorite TV show). Every year, they give Philippine viewers a chance to win a ticket to The Ellen Degeneres Show, and the mechanics is pretty simple, it varies every year, but it always involves a dancing Ellen. This year, you have to take note of the feature guest when a small dancing Ellen appears at the bottom of the TV screen, and then you have to email the answer together with your contact information. I have only sent 2 entries when I won. I'm starting to feel like Ellen is my lucky charm, now I love her even more.

I won a Flip Camcorder, A t-shirt that says "I dance with Ellen", TEDS fridge magnet and pen and a 2ndavenue notepad.

The truth is, I really wanted to win the grand prize, I wish to see the show in person and I feel that I have very little chance of getting it. But winning a weekly raffle geared up my hope, and who knows...

And if you're wondering, the Flip camcorder is best for outdoor recording, it doesn't have LED light so I have to make sure I use it in a fine weather. But still, no one can stop me from taking music box videos hehehe.

The Gift of Laughter

I have a confession to make.

Well, some of my friends already know this, but I feel like a need to post this...

I'm a huge Ellen DeGeneres fan. Yep, her. I'm not usually a celebrity person, now before you make any judgement, let me tell you that she's the most adorable celebrity out there.

I'm particularly hooked to her talkshow. To say that it changed me is an understatement. It healed me. I was a pessimistic person, full of problems and frustrations. I was limited to anime and anything Japanese. I refused to go out of my box until one day...

I remember, it was a gloomy week day in November. I was at a friend's place. It was boring. She was having a fight with her boyfriend while I am sad for another reason. I was flipping through channels on TV when I came across Ellen's opening monologue about Barrack Obama's election, she was explaining how the election came down to dancing. It was hilarious. Then she would come up with one funny act after another -the goofy dance, the straddling of the coffee table, showing how a hologram could make her life easier, demoing of a vaccuum cleaner at George Clooney's office, the kid inventors. It was just a super fun show that sent me into a burst of laughter until my friend had to yell to turn down my volume and remind me that she was crying. But something happened that I didn't notice. I had forgotten my own problem.

this is the monologue that got me started!

It took me a while, but once I got a hold of its schedule, I've become a regular home audience member.

My favorite part is the monologue, this is where Ellen shows off her brand of comedy, which I really love. She often talks about everyday life and points out inconveniences and silly things we're willing to put up that makes me think, yeah, why is that? I like the fact that she's willing to look goofy and silly for comedy, and it doesn't disappoint, well most of the time anyway.

It's that hour of laughter everyday that got me through and made me realize how much energy I'm wasting on negativity. And I'm not saying I'm completely healed, I still have a lot issues to work out and a lot of pessimism left in my veins, but I'm slowly getting rid of it. The thing is, I need to keep in touch with reality. Because, life can't always be all about fun. There will be hardships, but by focusing on the positive things, I have a much brighter future.

Anyway, it's Ellen's 53rd birthday today and I would've wanted to greet and thank her personally, for this gift of laughter. I know that it's hard to get a ticket on her show (yes, I'm that kind of fan now, I even bought copies of her books!). Here in Philippines, 2nd Avenue channel holds a contest every year with a ticket to her show (all expense paid!)as the prize. But then, good luck to me, one of the requirements is to have a US visa which I don't have and getting one is like passing through a needle's hole. But then again, I'm sure those people who gets a ticket are in more need than I do. So I'm happy to just watch in the comfort of our living room. I'm sure there are million lives healed by her gift of laughter, and on her birthday, I wish she gets the happiness she imparts, ten-fold. Happy Bday Ellen!

Coffee Prince

I just had a Coffee Prince marathon. It’s not anime but a Korean drama series. This is the first time I got interested and watched Korean stuff. I learned about it when my sisters are watching it. Sometimes I watched with them but it’s not like I always had the time to do so, besides I prefer the original version. Korean names are so hard to remember though (at least for me).

Honestly I was drawn to this series because of the androgynous Eun Chan. This girl “pretending to be guy” is nothing new to me. It has been used in anime and manga many times – Hanakimi, Rose of Versailles, Mint na Bokura, Pretty Face , etc. But this is the live action video that made me believe that this girl can really pass as a boy. I’ve seen the Ashiya of Hanakimi (Japan and Taiwan version), Jill of Jack ‘n Jill (played by Sharon Cuneta), and there’s this Hollywood film I’ve seen, I forgot the title and story already, but the main character pretending to be a guy looks like Ralph Machio (Karate Kid). They are good actresses but they didn’t really look like CUTE BOYS. And of course, I find Coffee Prince funny too. I’m just not so satisfied with the ending. I dunno, everyone ended up happy but I still feel something’s missing. My emotions were really pouring throughout the series, but when I saw the ending, all I said was, “oh that was it?” Maybe it’s because it ended the way I expected or maybe it was Eun Chan’s hair, LOL! I was hoping for something that would come out of the blue. But a never ending series is much more boring so I guess it was better that way. In general, it’s really a good series.

And just to share, these are things I’ve learned about Korea from watching Coffee Prince:
- there are both right had drive and left hand drive cars in Korea (but I still need to verify this)
- Asuji is uncle
- Oscar of Rose of Versailles is popular among Korean teens
- they also celebrate Valentines day the way Japanese do
- they also celebrate White Day

And speaking of Oscar, when I hear of him, I mean her, the image of Genma Saotome in panda mode in Oscar get up pops in my mind. Oh Panda-chan I want to see you!