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October 27 Bikini Car Wash for a Cause with the Axe Girls

Fritz — Tue, 16 Oct 2012 11:59:17 +0000

Anarchy, the latest and first ever fragrance from Axe to have separate variants for men and women, comes up with a campaign I never in this lifetime expected to happen: combine “sexy” and “for a cause” with a series of events called “Axe Anarchy Island: Sexy Saves Boracay.” Buckle up and drive to ASEANA City (see map here) near the SM Mall of Asia next Saturday, October 27, 2012 for a very exciting, cause-oriented, and first of its kind Bikini Car Wash with your the gorgeous Axe Girls.

In bikini.

Washing cars.

Did I already mention Axe Girls and bikin… OK, moving on…

The premise is simple: car wash, Axe Girls, bikini, no product purchase necessary to participate, and open to the public for a P250 fee per car you wish to get washed. All the proceeds from the bikini car wash event will be matched by Axe Philippines, the sum of which will fund and support a Boracay clean-up mission happening by the first quarter of next year, just in time for summer.

During the press launch for “Sexy Saves Boracay” in September, we were told that the campaign is actually three-fold, spanning several months until the Summer of 2013. Axe is currently in talks with NGOs who have the data and knowledge on how to make best use of the funding (like how many and what quality man-power, what facilities are needed, what problem areas to target, how long the project will last, will the funds be enough, or if any help from LGUs are needed, etc). News about the tie up will be released soon.

That said, will the Axe Girls be able to clean our cars, wax, buff, and tire black up to an acceptable standard? Now, there’s the challenge, ladies. Raise the bar! Nevertheless, helping make the world’s best beach get even better is a good and fun way of spending P250 and your Saturday afternoon, IMO.

See you at Aseana City on October 27 (that’s next Saturday, gentlemen)! Head on over to www.sexysavesboracay.com and AXE’s facebook page www.facebook.com/axephilippines for more details.

Cosplayers at the 11th ToyCon 2012-Day 3

Fritz — Mon, 18 Jun 2012 21:32:04 +0000

It’s been 6 months since I’ve been to cons like the 11th Annual ToyCon 2012. Kept focusing on fashion and glamour photography to date, is why. There’s a huge difference, I realize, between the two despite both having people as subject(s). One is very calculated, planned, orchestrated, well produced, controlled, and well directed. Photographing cosplay in cons will test how well you take action very fast from requesting the subject for a shot, to preparing your light, timing for when the subject makes their signature poses, establishing rapport and trust, and everything must happen at blinding speed because everybody’s pressed for time. IMO, the best challenge (and the one I find most exciting) in taking cosplay photos in cons is to be able to come up with pictures where the subject can connect to the camera and, ultimately, the audience (context valid when motive of taking photos is to publish them in old media or online in blogs or your favorite social media sites).

Below are 29 photographs of 38 cosplayers from Day 3 (Sunday) of ToyCon. Some of the shots I’ve taken that day like that of Snow White with Lyron as Luffy and Ralph Villaluz as Raidou Kuzunoha are too blurred to save (so sorry, you guys! T_____T Will make it up to you next time, I promise). Gerard Sison’s Superman shot below is also quite blurred but I have an alibi for sharing it, still: I believe nobody at the con brought a camera or lens that’s faster than a speeding bullet ;) Gaaaaaaaaah, failed by taking just one shot of this (kicks self at the shins)!!! As for that Superman costume, I know I’ve already mentioned this in a previous blog post but I won’t tire of sharing again Gerard’s own words from last year’s ToyCon:

“I was offered that Superman costume the night before the Toycon. It is a limited edition Christopher Reeve replica and there are only 10 in the world. It is made in Argentina and was sourced from all over the world. But I thought it was too much to spend for.”

I’ll upload these photos in facebook shortly. In the mean time, here are the snaps. If you can ID the untagged photos (characters and/or personalities), do tell at the comments section. Thanks!

Photos from the ToyCon 2012 Day 2 (Saturday, June 16, 2012)

Fritz — Sat, 16 Jun 2012 19:59:33 +0000

The 11th Philippine Toys, Hobbies and Collectibles Convention or TOYCON 2012 is on its third and last day today (Sunday, Father’s Day, June 17, 2012), brought to us by Collectibles Unlimited. Head on over to SM Megatrade Halls 1,2 , 3 & Conference Rms A & B, SM Megamall, Mandaluyong, Philippines for the country’s longest running and biggest pop-culture event.

In store for today is the group cosplay competition where Alodia is poised to do an intermission number apart from being one its judges. We were also told that the Kamikazee band will perform onstage at around 2PM. From my experience during the second ToyCon day on Saturday (yesterday, June 16, 2012), although a good number of hobbyists, fans, collectors, and friends have spent what could be a big chunk of their mid-year bonuses on rares, collectibles, and novelty goods (toys, comics, memorabilia, and games) being mostly sold at discounted prices inside ToyCon, there are still a lot to be had and owned for those only planning Father’s Day gift spending rampage on Sunday LOL.

As a long time anime fan and crazy action figure collector, the exhibit area located in Conference Rooms A & B could be either a blessing or my ultimate demise. I can observe at close proximity already released figs that I had been eyeing for a good part of the year and judge whether lusting over them is overrated or not. What’s frightening is wanting to own other toy lines that I have no intention of ever collecting from what I have seen because drool worthy is what most of those amazingly detailed and expensive looking toys are. My friendly advise: let the faint in self-restraint beware LOL.

The exhibit area is where I spent most of Saturday, taking photos (shown below in the gallery) of huge sculpts (like the Sentinel), scale models (like FPJ as Panday), Hot Toys, dioramas, old and well maintained/loved collections, and even gashapons. A few meters away in the selling area is where you may find some of the not so rare toys from the exhibit.

As mentioned, the group cosplay competition happens on Sunday. I have only taken photos of two cosplayers today, those of my good friends Monique and Lyron. Both, if I may say, are still very passionate about their craft. I promise to take more photos of the better cosplays at ToyCon 2012 today.

Note from the organizers: cosplayers are encouraged to go in the venue and utilize the “six huge themed exhibit spaces: The Anime Planet, Superhero Stars, Movie Nebula, Toy Supernova, Gaming Galaxy and Kids Constellation, all of which make up the Cosplay Universe.” From experience, photographers, the general public, and cosplayers engaging in photo ops in the corridors outside the Mega Trade Halls are being told by guards to vacate the area to minimize disruption of foot traffic flow.

The P100.00 entrance fee for ToyCon 2012 is so much worth the bargain, sights, and experience inside the event area. There’s also a gaming booth by Amped where registered players may get a chance to win in-game rare items. Below’s the activity schedule for June 17, 2012, ganked from the ToyCon PM website.

TIME	DAY 3 (JUNE 17, 2012, SUNDAY)
10:00 AM	Registration for COSPLAY UNIVERSE group competitions
	Toycon AVPs
	Emcees welcome & Sponsors acknowledgements
	Raffles
11:00 AM	Games – Bring Me /
	Sponsor segments – ABS CBN Publishing
	Panel discussion – GI Joe: 30 years (TS-118)
	Band Performance
12:00 PM	Film showing – Fan films
	Band Performance
	Games – Batman Trivia
	Panel – Angry Woebots
1:00 PM	Sponsor segments – SMART
	Games – Hero Up Daddy
	Panel discussions – Toys for the Big Boys: Statues, Hot Toys, Scale Models (Pinoy 1/6)
2:00 PM	Band Performance
	Sponsor segment – AMPed Fest
	Raffles
3:00 PM	Band Performance
	Sponsor Segment – ABS CBN Publishing
4:00 PM	COSPLAY UNIVERSE group competition
	Intermission – Alodia
5:00 PM	COSPLAY UNIVERSE group competition
	Sport That Dark Knight Look
6:00 PM	Band Performances
	Film Showing – Animation and Fan films
7:00 PM	Awarding of Cosplay and Contests
8:00 PM	Raffle draws and games

Glamour and Nude Photography Workshop (Philippine Leg) with Dan Hostettler on March 10-11, 2012

Fritz — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 22:48:36 +0000

UPDATE: Workshop price is now P15,000 instead of USD750. Contact Mike for details via the mobile number on the image below.

Dan Hostettler, Swiss “visualist,” Europe’s top notch Beauty and Glamour photographer, entrepreneur, and founder of (NSFW link) StudioPrague will be holding a 2-day, all-in, “Glamour & Nude Photography Workshop” in Manila on March 10-11, 2012. Limited to only 4 EDIT: 5 participants max at ~~US$750 per person~~ EDIT: PHP15,000, the workshop will showcase, foremost, Dan’s flawless technique and years of experience in teaching and practicing glamour and nude photography, 2 models (who have graced Playboy Philippines, no less, I heard), 1 hair and make-up artist, studio equipment, venue, and food and snacks.

Hover on the image below for an NSFW version of the poster (may take a few seconds to load):

I had my slot reserved, despite my knee-jerk remorse with the course fee. Did so after visiting the StudioPrague website, looking at their (NSFW link) regular workshop courses and course outline, reading about Dan’s credentials, seeing how carefully calculated and professional the nude shots looked, and after reading most of the (NSFW link) testimonials of past StudioPrague workshop participants the world over.

Think about it. In order for us to enroll into a semi-private masterclass of this caliber, we’d need to haul our collective arses to Europe or the US, spend for visa, airfare, lodging, living, and course fees (aaaaaaaaaaand tour packages and shopping expenditures, of course LOL). In Prague at the Czech Republic, a similar workshop at Dan Hostettler’s StudioPrague costs €1,950 per participant. The discount on workshop fees alone makes attending the Manila Workshop a keeper (with already around US$1,900 savings, mind you). How much would attending an “open shoot” cost in Manila? 1,500 to 2,000 inclusive of lighting, model fees, and just some time to shoot the model shared with at least 10 other photographers (most of whom would get every opportunity to get as much time shooting than the rest). There can only be very little to no structured learning in such avenues (I’ve attended a couple, so I’d know). Now, compare that setup with a semi-private, four participants-max class with Dan Hostettler.

I just recently attended a Product Lighting workshop with Jo Avila and Cesar Caina last Sunday. For a maximum of 15 participants, workshop fee is P6,000 (was lucky enough that there were only three of us who registered for the workshop, at the same cost. Had a fun time learning that day). With PCCI (Philippine Center for Creative Imaging), Nudes and Glamour are taught in two 2-day courses that costs roughly P7,000 per course. Point is, photography classes will cost you and attending good quality, read tried and tested, classes will cost you more. The fewer the participants, the higher the cost.

Reading this from StudioPrague sealed my decision to sign up for the “Glamour & Nude Photography Workshop:”

An EduShoot is a learning workshop.
EduShoots are where the REAL learning begins!
EduShoots (known as “workshop”) was created for the simple reason:
WE TEACH GLAMOUR & NUDE PHOTOGRAPHY!!

We have noticed over the past years, everyone offers so called “workshops”. At these “workshops” there is little or no instruction going on, just people shooting models. We wanted to get away from that and establish the fact that at our workshops, there’s actual education happening!

I’d pitch this 2-day course to hobbyists, advanced, and pro-photographers alike, if only to pick on Dan’s mind, his European (photography) industry insider pro-tips, and know what it is that makes him take consistently good glamour (and of course nude) photographs. Heck, I’d even egg on fine arts students to go, if they have the means and the earnest interest to pursue glamour photography as a career after graduation. It’d also be quite snooty to claim “I’ve attended a StudioPrague Workshop” (better if it shows on your output, too, hehe, which is why we’re taking the class)!

On a lookout for short courses to help enhance my skills at photography, I turned to a good friend Michael Sy Yu of iSnap Creatives for ideas and guidance. And guide me did! Thanks, Mike, for pitching the workshop idea to Dan and thanks, Dan, for giving us the rare chance to learn from of your genius.

To reserve for a slot and for sure participants, please contact Mike at 0917.8906053. Feel free to share this like to anyone who you think would be interested.

DISCLOSURE: This is not an advertorial. The author and site owner did not receive any form of compensation and neither free nor discounted training course fees for publishing this article. Header image and workshop poster taken from Dan’s and StudioPrague’s website

Nokia N9 Hands-On Preview (Pre-Order up to November 18, 2011 Online with SMART)

Fritz — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 19:30:21 +0000

For about two weeks, I’ve been carrying around and using the Nokia N9 running on MeeGo. Being a snooty Nokia N8 user for a year, experiencing the sleek “swipe” driven interface, the look and feel and color palette that’s cool and current to the eyes, the smoothness of the transitions between the screens and shifting between multi-tasked applications, and how everything just appears so simple on the N9 just blew me away. In just two days, I told myself I should have one. At any cost, though “for free” would be better. LOL.

It’s a good thing SMART is offering the unit for free to some already-existing and new post-paid plans. Pre-order started on November 4 and will last until November 18, 2011 online via this link at the SMART website.

Much has been said about MeeGo, how the N9 will be the first and only mobile unit to carry it, and how Nokia should have used this Mobile OS instead of WinMo for future devices if you have been reading about rave reviews of the N9 unit during the past month. The statement has its merits because it’s so easy to fall in love, pardon the term, with this mobile OS. I have not experienced the Nokia Lumia 800 yet as that won’t be available in the Philippines in the near future from what I gathered from friends in Nokia so I can’t really vouch for the idea just yet.

This preview should have with it a video showing you how the transitions and navigations work but I’ll try my best to do that with screenshots, instead. Here’s to hoping it’s just as good as a video presentation. Let’s also leave out the highly technical aspect of a mobile phone unit review, spanning several pages long of ultra nerdiness, and leave that coverage with gsmarena and other similar sites LOL.

The Home Screens

On one are your applications, next are your updates with feeds from either or both facebook and twitter and your email or SMS messages, and the next are all your open and active applications that you can readily launch with a tap. On the N9, we shift between home screens with a swipe. While in an active application, swipe left or right or up to go back to one of these home screens. Please left-click on the images below to enlarge.

Pinch the default 2×2 grid of the active apps home screen and you get a 3×3 grid to see more of your launched apps running in the background.

Here’s a change: there currently is no way for a user to close an active app while it is running. There is no “x” or close button. Swipe your way to the home screen containing a preview of your active apps, press and hold anywhere on that screen, and you will have the facility to either close the apps one by one or just close them all at the same time. At first, I found this awkward since I am, and so are most of you, so used to closing apps one by one when we like to exit but not getting a “close/exit app” button on the app itself actually makes things simpler. It’s one less screen press for mankind, one app at a time!

EDIT: Nikka Abes of Nokia tipped that there is a way to close an active app: swipe from top to bottom. To enable this feature, change your N9 settings by going to Settings > Device > Display and turn the “Swipe down to close app” option on. Thanks Nikka! :)

Another nifty feature with MeeGo is how you move around and arrange the icons of all your apps on the home screen. Tap and hold the icon of the app, drag it to the desired location, release, and hit “Done.” That’s it! You can even delete an app you installed via this view. It was a chore to do such a task on the home screen of the N8 and arranging however which way you want just could not be done on the menu screen, but here we have it folks. The ease of doing things epitomized by this tiny bit of improvement on MeeGo and the N9.

How Some of the Apps Look or Work

The first screen where we input our Security PIN has an exciting green on black going on but that could not be screen grabbed but here’s a run down of how some other apps look when launched.

It bothered me at first that apps may not come in droves for MeeGo but seeing that there’s a readily available (and free) currency converter, measurement converter, and screen grabber via the Ovi Store for this OS, the need for more suddenly felt trivial. I don’t even miss Pulse (the RSS feed reader on the Android) that much any more.

Conclusion

As of press time, I haven’t tried the “Drive,” “Maps,” and “Skype” applications on the N9 just yet. Having subscribed to an unlimited mobile data plan subscription made me fully utilize the social network and web applications/solutions on the N9. From the look and feel of the apps I shared above, I can with true conviction say that the MeeGo operating system delivers a great user experience that long-time users of other mobile OS, moreso Symbian^3, would not have a problem adapting to. The interface, and I can’t stress this enough, is absolutely fluid. The N9 is a great multi-tasking device, has quite a little but reasonable lag times (that I attribute more to the network signal where I’m at than the N9 itself), a splendid shooter, and has an interesting and eye-catching form factor albeit the unibody being polycarbonate plastic (does not feel and look cheap at all).

People have been comparing the N9 to the Nokia Lumia 800 but I think the N9 has much more oomph based on these three hand-picked differences: Screen Resolution (the N9 has 3.9 inches while the Lumia 800 has 3.7), RAM (the N9 has 1GB while the Lumia 800 has 512Mb), and the N9′s front-facing camera that they took out from the Lumia 800.

Other specs worth noting on the Nokia N9 are the following:

Penta-band 3G with 14.4 Mbps HSDPA and 5.7 Mbps HSUPA support
Slim and sleek at 116.45 x 61.2 x 7.6-12.1 mm
8 megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss optics with f/2.2, wide angle with 3.77mm / 28mm focal length
HTML5, CSS 3, and XHTML markup language support
Full web browsing of real web pages from a fast and highly responsive browser based on Webkit2 technology (multi-page browsing enabled, too)
Conversational view for SMS
16/64GB Storage (not expandable with a micro SD, unlike the N8)
Chat directly on your phone via WiFi or 3G/HSPA using your gmail chat or facebook accounts (which is the reason I always look online these days lol)
Easy-to-use email client (HTML supported) with attachment support for images, videos, music and documents .doc, .docx, .xls, .xlsx, .ppt, .pptx, .odt, .ods, .odp, .pdf
Joikuspot Wi-Fi tethering
you can view the rest from the Nokia N9 official website.

From a Nokia N8, despite it still being the best camera phone in the world at this time, I would readily shift to MeeGo with the Nokia N9. We have been hoping for that Symbian Belle upgrade for months and it seems, from talks on some forums I’ve visited, the update won’t be coming so soon. Bummer. When the update comes, however, I’d still give it a try hoping it comes close to what MeeGo’s got going. One other thing that’s sure to hold me back from getting the N9, or three, rather, are my 3 Angry Birds games that have all been three-starred to perfection on my N8. If only those can be ported LOL.

I mentioned that the Nokia N9 is available for the Philippines on pre-order from SMART up to the 18th while first shipment will come on the 21st. If this preview made you want the N9 bad, then we’re lucky that owning one is just a click, a few types, and a few days away. When that time comes, be ready to have your SIM cut micro-SIM size.

Lastly… “Unfollow” (China’s Nokia N9 campaign video with Fan BingBing). Uncanny parallelism is uncanny (slow claps).

Alodia’s Fantasy Live Online Show Event Recap in Photos

Fritz — Sun, 23 Oct 2011 23:58:32 +0000

Prepare for an Alodia’s Fantasy event photo avalanche! Hover on the pics for captions. I enjoyed the program immensely with friends Kring Elenzano, Winston Almendras, Faith Salazar, and Coy Caballes. The cosplay competition segment is the best that I have seen so far from among the cosplay competions I’ve attended through the years: schedule is tight but just right, sound accompanying the performances are all high quality BGMs, finalist line up are truly worthy to be called best in class, and the cosplayers gave it their all to justify their character portrayals. The event was held in the ICON at the Intercontinental Manila Hotel. Usually a bar and lounge for a CBD night out, it was for the night transformed to stage the live online show. I heard from Marcelle, the host for the evening alongside Alodia Gosiengfiao, that the number of online views for the program reached more than 10,000 and at one point, there were around 700+ simultaneous views. If broadband in the Philippines weren’t so darn slow, I bet there would be a lot more people staying in their homes to watch the show. Still, amazing!

Below are photos of the cosplay participants during the show’s competition. First up, the Male Cosplay Category.

Dennis Madarang playing Pyramid Head, a violent monster from the hit game Silent Hill 2, is the winner for the Male Cosplay Category. If you look at his skirt closely, you’ll observe that he brought along his arcane posse. Talk about detail!

For non-otakus, Sajin Komamura is the captain of the 7th Division of Gokai 13 in Soul Society in the anime series Bleach (if the robe does not give that away yet lol).

Eddieson goes onto the stage with a folder covering his face. Put down, he reveals a cylindrical-ish Red Angry Bird mask and starts throwing birds to the audience as the Angry Birds theme played in the background. Then suddenly, he yanks away the pants, throws down the mask, and pulls off the black shirt to reveal Red Hawk. OutSTANDING in creativity!

I apologize to Rubinstein Ebuenga who played Kamen Rider Dark Kiva with the song number because my shots of you are all dark. Failure from my end, sorry. Plus I’m quite peeved by the color of the lighting in the venue. Too magenta for my liking and white balance presets. Again, I’m sorry.

Up next are the ladies from the Female Cosplay Category.

I have been taking photos of Monique in various cosplay conventions but it is only during Alodia’s Fantasy that I have seen her do the geiko dance. It was nothing short of stunning: her facial expression show pride, control, and a calm vibe showing in her calculated and fluid movements that she must have perfected through years of cosplaying a geisha. Great job, Minique! Mighty proud of you, my friend! EDIT: So I found out that Monique was played the wrong background music for her number. Double the props to you, my friend for pulling that dance off like that with professional reserve. Shame shame on the audio people. Shame!

Myrtle Gail won in the female cosplay category by playing Grand Archer Rena from the MMORPG Elsword.

Apologies to Catrina Anne Lazaro who played Black Rock Shooter because my shots of your performance could not be salvaged owing to the erratic and magenta saturated lighting :( I’m so sorry!

Next up is the Mecha Cosplay Category.

From the rehearsals earlier Saturday, Don Robert came in a Stark jacket for the run through. Near the end, he did a back flip much to the surprise of everybody in the set. The question in my mind was will he do it during the actual competition with the Mark V on. He didn’t. I must say the online audience just missed a singularly awesome moment in Philippine cosplay history.

Bolen Lareza playing Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn’s MSN-06S Sinanju bagged the grand prize in the Mecha cosplay category. I suddenly remember something I heard from a friend during a con a loooooong time ago: “we are no match with chibis. They come out and they wow and make everyone swoon and gush with little or no effort.” Haha. Bolen, however, really worked the stage. Her moves are in sync with the background music and sound effects. The mecha is also exquisitely made. My favorite detail is the etched insignia on the MSN-06S’s left shoulder.

Richard Cheng’s Zoids mecha is probably the biggest mecha I have EVER seen around. It’s just HUGE! Just look at that photo where he’s fighting with a human who looks like a mouse. Not in this picture is the tail detail of the mecha. It’s LOOOOOOOOOOOOOONG AND HUGE, TOO!

For the other things that happend that night, check out the following. click on the landscape oriented photos for the larger image.

Kel asked Gerard what his name is to which Gerard answered, “a friend.” His answer brought the house down. Well played.

That’s it. The Alodia’s Fantasy program in photos. Great job flippish and everyone who made this event possible and the sponsors, of course. Thanks Kring and Chris Tan for the invite! Will there be an Alodia’s Fantasy Encore any time soon? :)

PS: I apologize to the Haga Twins Miwha and Michiko, too. Looking at my photos at home, it appears I did not have a great shot of them other than what I took during the rehearsals. Bawi ako next time, I promise >.<