The Year in Collecting

If there's one thing you should know about me, it's the fact that I'm a collector (a mild version of a hoarder hehehe). I collect anything that fascinates me -lenticular photos, autographs, commemorative bills/coins, glow in the dark stuff, arcade tokens, foreign currencies, sneakers, candy/chocolate dispenser, stamps, flashlight, business cards (WTH!), tickets . I'm not a big collector though, I can't afford it. The stuff I mentioned, I have very few it may not even qualify to be called a collection. Still, I collect them whenever I could. There are priority collections, they are: Music box, books, and Ellen stuff. Out of the three, books won the number this year, I think I've bought a record number of books, (32) which is not much either, but still, for an average reader like me, I feel that's a lot. Most of the gifts I gave out to my niece and nephews are books too. I'm hoping that I could encourage and promote a culture of reading in my family. But I kinda hate this attitude I have when I keep on buying more even when I still have towering titles yet to read. I pledged over and over that I won't buy another one till I've read the other books I bought earlier, yet I keep on breaking them anyway. I'm an impulsive buyer. I guess it will be part of my new year's resolution to reduce my expenditure.

Books on the queue for 2013 reading hehehe

My music box consumption had also waned, I realized that I can't completely quit the toy collection, I had to compromised a reasonable bargain with myself. So the deal is, I should only order twice a year. One is for Christmas and one for my birthday. But can you imagine, I would scour the internet for music box all year round, and when the time comes, I'll choose the one I like the most, it's like a selection process.

This is what I got for Christmas (I bought it sometime in September as an advance Christmas present). This music box has all the elements I like - a Panda, a Santa, a blonda (blonde kid hehehe). Despite the Christmas design, it plays a non-Christmas song, but one of my favorite music - The Entertainer by Scott Joplin. I love the details of the figure, you can expect nothing less from Enesco. The music box is manufactured by Sankyo, another top name in quality, the sound is crisp and right on.

So yeah, it's not an absolute cessation. I know for sure that I've stopped buying any action figures, gashapon or die casts, but once in a while, I'd break the promise. But I've matured and have become really picky. I think about the future use and worth of what I'm buying. I'd like to think I am more reasonable now. Like when I decided to get a view master. It's an out of date toy, but I believe Mattel is still manufacturing them. We used to have one when we were kids, my dad got it for Oliver, but we take turns in using it. I decided to get one so my niece and nephews can enjoy some old toys that we used to enjoy. I got a 1950's model of the view master made of bakelite. I figured, the older the better, it has more stories and it's a good way to avoid made in China products (I try to avoid them as much as possible due to political reason, nothing against the Chinese people). I have 13 reels so far, 10 are scenes of old American TV shows like Mighty Mouse and Rin Tin Tin, and 3 our scenic spots in Japan. I plan to get more scenic reels next year. I'm hoping to use it to educate my niece and nephew of our beautiful planet.

Another thing I stopped collecting is the the Starbucks sticker for the Starbucks planner, years ago. For 6 years, Starbucks had always been my planner "provider", but collecting it has lost its charm on me. Everybody's going for it, even my sister, the competition just got boring. Besides, I've switched to tea. I still love Starbucks and sometimes I still have their coffee beverages, but I'm not getting their planner anymore. I decided to get something more practical and more appropriate for my usage. I realized how fun it is to look for the perfect planner. I found the perfect planner for me from Yeah Just You journals.

    

It's small and waaayyy cheaper, designed with a year, monthly and weekly planner, there's a space for budget planning (which I love), the weekly planning space has a weather indicator, there are blank spaces at the back which gives you freedom to doodle, it's colorful and cute I think I'm solved! Until I saw the Free Speech Publication journal, too late! But next year I'd love to have that one. Smartphone and tablets don't work for me, I like writing things down and i love to doodle, I think planners would be a yearly thing for me for the long run.

Speaking of gadgets, I also got me a copy of the last print issue of Newsweek. TIME's biggest rival has gone all digital, I think it's only a matter of "time" before they go the same direction. I'm not really a fan or follower of Newsweek, but I'm such a sucker for commemorative stuff like this (hoarder instinct kicks in). Both magazines, however, were my staple companion in the library when I was in college. So yeah, I may be crazy and all over anime and all those Japanese stuff at the time, but I kinda knew what's going on. In a way, it gave me a sentimental reason to get the issue for my collection.

In a way, I feel like my collecting (or hoarding) habit have toned down this year, I hope to keep it lower next year. I plan to shift my priorities to collective initiatives. I pray that I'll have the discipline to do that.

Merry Christmas!!!

I can't believe how the Grinch made a stop on my room on Christmas Eve. I had everything planned, it was going to be a busy and long day. I was gonna buy presents for the people I missed on my list, I was gonna wrap the remaining gifts, I was supposed to help with the chores, clean my room, wax my floor, change my sheets and curtains. I was supposed to end my day with a Christmas film marathon (I prepared my favorite classics). But everything was ruined when I felt a pang of pain hit my lower abdomen. It started with a tolerable twitch then later it progressed into something so intense, I wanted to throw up. I spent the rest of the Christmas Eve rolling all over my bed trying to get the best position that would soothe me. Total bummer...

Nothing to worry though, it's just my monthly period. The first day is always the toughest. I guess I should be thankful it didn't fall on Christmas Day or the 26th (because I'm going back to work). I could have chosen to bypass this episode by drinking a pain reliever, but knowing the side effects of pain relievers, I'd rather have the Grinch win this time. I woke up this early morning with everybody sleeping, the are 13 unread messages on my phone and I stood up carrying a hollow tummy, man I was starving to death. I opened up the fridge and smiled at the sight of overflowing food, and I thought, why it's never too late to enjoy the feast. 

I took a bite of Sapin-sapin (a type of rice cake), and went back to bed. I wanted to save bingeing for later.  It'll be another busy day, this time, no more interruptions from the Grinch. Oh I can't wait to make kids happy again! 

For the meantime, here's something for you my dear readers.

Merry Christmas! May this season fill you with love, joy, peace and good health. 

Things on my mind lately...

Roka Salata and Skolatina... Yummm...

Christmas shopping, when will I do it, what am I gonna give to the kids?

When will I ever have the courage to get out of this comfort zone and just quit? :(

Music box... view master scenic reels... ugh the longing!

I need a haircut!

...

...

I just realized it's World AIDS Day. Incidentally, I'm wearing red shirt, socks and underpants. Simple coincident like this confirms the universe conspires with me. I don't have anything sensible to say, but I'd like to take this moment, to pray and send my thoughts to all the people harboring this horrible disease. I never stop wishing and hoping that I'd live to see the day we combat AIDS. A world without AIDS...

So it's December, 24 days to go till Christmas, 30 days to go till 2013, but then will we ever get there? Cause, you know, it's 20 days to go before the end of the world, according to the Mayan calendar or to the people who have too much time on their hand and "decoded" the calendar. Sometimes, I really envy those kind of people. Meh!

Here's something that's ending today, the social network feature of Multiply. They're going to be this online marketplace all the way. Really don't care about that side of the site, if I have to shop online, I do it on ebay. But all the pictures, music, videos and blogs uploaded will be gone. They were nice enough to give an advance notice months ago. So today, I logged in for the last time. My Inbox showed 1 unopened PM and 1 unchecked invitation, sent years ago. I didn't bother to click on them. Instead, I started to do one of my favorite uses of Social networks, STALKING. I browsed my contacts and backed up the blogs that amused me, and I meant I copy-paste them somewhere. Don't worry y'all, I'll never pull a Tito Sotto, I swear. I just wanted them as a keepsake. Just be flattered that I'm a fan of your writings. I didn't bother to back up my photos though, I have the originals in my hard disk, but this is one of my favorite picture in Multiply:

Whee, look it's my Sputnik sweetheart! This was taken in Nido Science Center in MoA. That's Sputnik y'all., a replica that is. It's the very first satellite launched into outer space. I kinda envy the people who lived at the time of Space race between US and USSR, I felt like there were a lot of milestones in a short period of time. I mean in 1957 they sent the first satellite, then they sent Laika (the first dog in space) sadly she never returned -sad face-, they sent the first spacecraft, pictures to the moon, Yuri Gagarin, the first space walk by Leonov, and then by 1969, we were on the moon! In 12 years we made that much progress, it's been 40 years since the last Apollo mission, we should be in Mars now. I'm not complaining okay, we have  the Curiousity rover which made its historic touch down in Mars last July 5 (PST), and we have those really cool live stream videos of the ISS crew doing Q&A's and ISS tour, in HD! Then yesterday, I learned that there's ice in Mercury. It's amazing! I hope I'd live to witness a successful manned mission to Mars, and even other planets.

Tomorrow, is Chris' birthday and we'll be seeing the (Philippines) advance screening of Rurouni Kenshin live action film.Old and new fans alike had anticipated the local screening of Ruroken for months. I'm probably one of the few whose not caught up in the hype. I mean I AM excited to see it in the big screen, I will see it no matter what, but let's just say, I have very low expectations. Truth be told, I didn't even follow the development when I first saw the trailer. I'm still a fan okay, I still love Kenshin very much. But, you see, it's my favorite anime/manga of all time. I watched the first airing of the TV series and the reruns, the OVA's, the animated feature film, a million times. Okay that's exaggeration, but it's a lot I swear.  I've read the manga including the Kaden special, the Yahiko spin-offs, and many more doujinshi (including BL). I feel like I have explored every angle of possibility in the Ruroken universe. Now I have not read any review nor synopsis of film, I can only say from what I see in the trailer that the live action will follow the storyline of the manga. I am skeptic on how the film will make it fresh for me. I am also not in favor of the choice of actor, I mean visually. I'm not exactly rooting for a close physical resemblance, but, I don't know how to explain this, Takeru Sato just don't radiate that Kenshin aura. But we'll see, with all the low expectations I have, there's a higher chance that I'd enjoy it, I mean, less expectations, less disappointment.

In lieu of the Kenshin screening, I believe I haven't shared this here. This music box should bring nostalgia, it plays "Sobakasu".  Please enjoy :)

And my Oscar bet goes to...

Hey this is not a ploy to lure you into my music box appreciation endeavor. It really has something to do with the Oscars. You see, this music box I'm featuring comes from an Academy Award winning film. Spirited Away won the Best Animated Feature award at the 75th Academy Awards. It remains the highest grossing film in Japan and one of my most favorite films of all time. Naturally, the music box above is one of my favorites too, it plays the song "Itsumo Nandodemo"

Enough of the music box, in a couple of hours, the 84th Academy Awards ceremony will start. But not without my predictions (LOL). I've already placed a bet with my sister and I'm really excited. I'm just rooting for Hugo this year, but I thought it would be good to post my other predictions based on the films I've seen. Too bad, I have not seen all the films with nomination, it would be a fun exercise of my judgement on people's creativity. Anyway, I'll just place my predictions in some major categories.

The films with nominations I've seen so far:

Hugo

The Artist

Bridesmaids

The Help

The Descendants

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

Albert Nobbs

Margin Call

Best Supporting Actress - This is the only category where I've seen all the performance of the nominees, and my bet goes to Octavia Spencer. Because she's the one that moved me the most.

Best Supporting Actor - the complete opposite of the previous category, none of the nominees made it to my eyes, I should have removed this from my list, but I'll make an exception. I think it'll be Christopher Plummers, because Ellen said so.

Best Actress - I'm torn between Glenn Close and Viola Davis, both characters welled me into tears, but I'll probably go for Close, I mean she's been nominated many times but never bagged the award, it's high time for her to get it, I thought her performance in Albert Nobbs was really amazing.

Best Actor - Gary Oldman. To be honest, I had a tough time understanding Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, but if I would compare his performance with George Clooney and Jean Duajrdin, he's the best.

Best Director - Martin Scorsese, there's no explanation needed for this director, but then again, with all the nods The Artist are getting, it'll probably go to Michel Hazanavicius.

Bes Picture - Hands down to Hugo! I'm thinking that there's a 90% chance that The Artist will take the award because every prediction I've read points to that direction, but Hugo remains my favorite, so... Don't get me wrong okay, I loved The Artist, I think it's great that a silent film is getting this much attention, it can lead to production of more silent films in the future, surely not as much as it used to, but a few would do. But still, I feel very strong for Hugo.

You might think I have a pretty silly reasoning with my bets. The thing is, I've not seen all the films with nomination. Besides, to each his own and these predictions are mine. So what's your bet?

Hello February!

Guess what? It's my birthday tomorrow and I won't let the month pass by without posting my wishlist. It's an obligatory post you know, for me and the people who love me. Well, mainly for me. Come on, it's not gonna hurt to know what I'd like to get on my 29th birthday would it?

So, without further ado, here goes!

Music Box (that plays)

• The Entertainer
• Ave Maria
• Auld Lang Syne
• Aeris Theme :D
• Ice Castles theme

Books

• Hear the Wind Sing by Haruki Murakami
• Pinball, 1973 by Haruki Murakami
• The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick
• Love Ellen by Betty Degeneres
• The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank
• The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman
• Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer
• Handle With Care by Jodi Picoult

Toys:

• Kaiyodo Revoltech Kenshin Himura figure (red)
• Megahouse 1/8 Kenshin Himura figure (blue)

Others:

• socks

See, pretty simple eh? I'm not that hard to please after all.

I've already got me an advance present. I got me my very first DIY music box. I got this from a Japanese auction. It's a 20 note music box.

I am aware that I can't afford the rare music boxes that I've been drooling on for so long (I'm talking to you Final Fantasy music boxes). So this DIY music box is the next best thing. Now all I need is a paper roll template to play those Nobuo Uematsu songs. The kit that I got, as you can see, is a Hello Kitty merchandise and that's a big plus. Some of the DIY music boxes I see are just skeleton, I got a box with Hello Kitty design! It also includes 5 paper strips, 2 of them are pre-punched, one has the arrangements for Happy Birthday song, which is very timely. You know what that means:

It's lovely. I showed it to some of my relatives and they liked it. Now all I have to worry is looking for the music templates, then I can start punching.

Cassette Orgel

Hey, do you know that trend in Facebook where you post the number one song the week you were born? Mine was Down Under by Men at Work. I'm not exactly a fan, but I do like some of their songs. I am a fan, though, of the 80s and 90s music, probably the best era in music for someone who grew up on those years. At the time, there were no ipods and itunes, no youtube singing sensations, and very few singing talent competitions. But back then, music made a lot of sense (IMHO). We had Walkman though, and cassette tapes.

Ahhh the cassette tape... up until the new millennium (Y2K) I used them to collect songs. I couldn't afford to buy the official albums, I had blank tapes instead. On weekends, I stayed up late to wait for my favorite songs in the radio so I can record them in my tapes. Sometimes, I'd record a talk in between songs, pretending to be a DJ playing a fan request song. Then I used them to record anime songs too. It sounds so primitive, but TVs don't come with a tape recorder, so what I did was place the cassette recorder beside the TV and hit the record button once the opening or ending theme plays. The ending song was a bummer, sometimes, the network stations won't finish the song, in a hurry to start the new program.

Then, way way back from my childhood, when my dad was working overseas, because we had no telephone, we communicate through letters and cassette tapes. We recorded our messages in blank tapes and send them to my dad. I had no idea where those tapes are now, it would have been great to find them and hear what my voice sounded like. Kids today are so luck that they'll get to see their videos of their formative years when they become adults.

I no longer have my cassette tapes. Maybe I do, maybe they are somewhere here. I never knew what happened to them. Just like any normal human, I moved on with the evolution of music medium. I listen to music through my CD player, laptop or smartphone. What I do have though, as a tribute to the music era that I love so much, is a cassette tape music box.

Sorry if I fooled you, this is another music box appreciation post, LOL. But this is great I tell you. The cassette orgel was manufactured by Takara Co., Ltd. and was designed by Yasuyuki Moriyama. The orgel mechanism, which is smaller than most music boxes around, is encased in a cassette tape. The spools spin when you wind up the music box, very similar to a real cassette tape when played. This music box plays Akai Sweet Pea by Seiko Matsuda, dubbed as the "Eternal Pop Idol" of Japan. The song was a big hit in the early 80s and was covered nunmerous times by different artists, even Patti Austin!

I'm not sure if I've heard it covered by some of the Jpop artists I know or was featured on any anime but the music song is very familiar. I find it kinda similar to Satou Akemi's (Fushigi Yuugi) Shiawase Ni Naroune.

Because of my attachment to the 80s and 90s, and its cuteness, this is one of my favorite music box.

The Body Remembers - Yuuko Ichihara

I have a confession to tell. But you have to watch the video first before you read on...

When I was in highschool, I was a big fan of Donna Cruz. I followed her music, movies and her TV series (Villa Quintana) up until she got married. Her career went on hiatus and so I moved on. That's the confession hehehe. That was a long time ago. Last year, I received a Snow Globe music box (in accordance to my wishlist) when we had our gifts exchanged during our department's Christmas party. I specifically asked a Christmas snowglobe music box. I love Christmas songs, I was expecting that this item I received plays one, but to my disappointment, no. The music was originally popularized by a Japanese pop/rock band Southern All Stars, a song called "Manatsu no Kajitsu". In 1997, Donna popularized a Filipino rendition of the song called "Isang Tanong, Isang Sagot". Amazingly, I recognized the song very quickly.

I have not listened to Donna's songs for a very long time, but I knew when I first wind up the keys, the music sounded familiar. It's true when they say (or when CLAMP said) that the mind may forget but the body remembers.

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.

I wasn't gonna blog about this, but because of so many times I've failed to upload this on youtube (thanks to my amazing broadband connection), I've felt that a successful upload (finally) deserves a blog post (and plug) hehehe.

Evangelion is one of the most popular anime of my time, there are tons of merchandise available and thank God music box is one of them. It comes in different variant, this one is the version 2. It is manufactured by Sega and is supposed to be an arcade prized item. The set comes with Asuka and another Rei wearing white one piece suspended in a glass tube. I sell the Asuka figure and also the version 3 (both Rei and Asuka).

Fly Me to the Moon is a popular song by Frank Sinatra. It has different versions by various artists but I have to admit though, that only Evangelion made me love this song.

For some reason, whenever I wind this up, our dog Majinbu barks along. Even when I tried playing the video, he goes barking again -sigh-

Music Box

Here's something that I haven't shared. I love music box! I think it started more than a year ago when my fascination with this 18th century technology started and I don't really know why. I know that I've always loved music box version of some anime songs, but I'm really fascinated with the wind-up movement. That complex mechanism of interlocking cogs, gears and wheels got me locked. In this age of Ipod and digital music, here I am, crazy for an old technology.

I created a youtube account so I can upload some of my collection and hopefully meet other music box enthusiasts. Here's a sample from my collection. Being an anime fan, I tried to limit collecting to anime related music boxes. In Japan, music box is referred to as "orgel". This one is Laputa Castle in the Sky orgel figure that plays the movie's theme song. Please enjoy =).