I wish I had a more creative title, but I can’t think of any, so yeah, that’ll have to do.
Saturday! I went to the anime/comics/gaming convention at the World Trade Center’s East Pavillon. And it was COLD. Somebody should’ve told me to bring a jacket. Ok, somebody did. But somebody should’ve told me to definitely bring a jacket. Anyway, temperature issues aside, it was some kind of a lot of fun. 
To those who aren’t privy to the geek world, what happens on these conventions is, there are booths selling comics, action figures, anime DVDs and other geeky stuff, there are some arcade games, and on stage there are bands performing, and maybe Q&A forums with renowned authors/artists, plus autograph sessions. There’s also cosplay, which explains why there are people who look like characters from anime/manga series or video games. Anyway, I’m saying this to let you know that all anime/comic/toy/whatever-related conventions here are like this. The differences are very small, e.g. if it’s a Toy Convention, there’s just going to be more abundant toys for sale, but the rest are pretty much the same, which is why, I think, one of my friends said that he’s sort of sick of going to these kinds of events and might stop going altogether. I told him that that’s why I only go once in a while (maximum of 3 times a year), so I wouldn’t easily get tired of all of it. Besides, the real reason I go there, is for the company.
The Kagaws at Mangaholix ‘09
As if I haven’t mentioned it a million times before, I’m saying again that some of the people behind Mangaholix are my friends from high school. We’re really not that close anymore, I think one of them even hates me (as in really hates me — case in point: he deleted me as contact from Multiply and Friendster), but I still like to support them. I’m also friends with one of the bands that played at the event, The Kagaws, and one of the event hosts, and a bunch of volunteers/marshalls. Both my best friend E and my friend’s boyfriend A are marshalls. I spent most of my time with them, and The Kagaws’ girlfriends. So my attendance is really more of a social thing, than a hobby/interest thing. But I’m sure that most of the people who go to these things would tell you the same.
Anyway, like I said, I spent most of my time w/ A and E who were assigned to the door — to check if the people who went in had tickets. So yeah, we acted pretty much like bad guys, always asking to see everyone’s ticket, and having to check the ID of the VIP’s and exhibitors, etc. But you see, it’s because we found out (too late) that some exhibitors passed their IDs to their friends who weren’t exhibitors, so there was some hullabaloo regarding the ticket sales. But I think they eventually sorted it out.
Actually, the convention is for 2 days, but I didn’t get to go today because I woke up at 5:30PM. Yes, you read that right. I woke up at 5:30PM. And it’s all because of a movie, that I didn’t really want to watch, but what the heck.
Apparently, the tickets for this weekend at some cinemas (particularly the Ayala Cinemas) have been sold out since last Thursday, but E and I got to watch it at Mall of Asia. It still wasn’t that easy to watch it there, though.
Firstly, I checked on the internet to see the screening schedules and noted that the last was 9PM. We got to Mall of Asia at around 8:30PM and I thought that there would be plenty of time to buy tickets for 9PM showing, but when we got to the ticket counter, they announced that the only tickets left for Twilight (Yes, they didn’t make the distinction between Twilight and New Moon. Even the ticket said “Twilight”.) was for the 11:30PM screening. I think they actually only added that screening to accommodate the piles of people who still wanted to see it. Us included. So we bought tickets for the 11:30PM show (and they were quite expensive, too — P180 each), bought some popcorn, and was thinking about what to do for the next 2 hours when—
we saw that outside the Premier Cinema, there was already a line. It was 9:30PM and already people were lined up for the 11:30PM show. So it’s nothing as drastic as the people who camped outside cinemas in the U.S. to see Star Wars Episode I, but still, lining up that early just seems ridiculous. But, despite the ridiculousness of it all, we lined up as well, and just waited. We sat on the floor, because everyone was already sitting. By 10:30PM, the line was already up to the other side of the cinemas. And that’s saying a lot, considering that Mall of Asia is the 4th largest mall in the world. Anyway, when the doors opened at 11PM, the people actually applauded and hooted and made other kinds of noise. From the excitement maybe, or they’re just thankful that we’ll finally get to sit on proper chairs. The cinema wasn’t full, but it was more than half full, which is really something, for a screening that wasn’t even supposed to happen. The movie ended at 1:30AM and it would’ve been really hard to get home if my dad hadn’t had a dinner that ran late and so was able to pick me up. Still, it’s an awful lot of trouble for something I didn’t even really want to see in the first place. Oh, who am I kidding? My curiosity trumps practicality all the time. And I have to admit, despite not really liking the Twilight series, it has made me curious enough, so I actually really did want to see it. I mean, it’s got a gazillion fans. Surely, there’s something that makes them love it, right?
Unfortunately, I still got bored with the movie. So Taylor Lautner was hot, but even his hotness could not save the movie. (Not like Matt Lanter in Cutting Edge 3 haha!) Anyway, here are some random thoughts:
- Not enough Charlie Swan. – Really, he was my favorite character in Twilight, and I don’t know why they didn’t make use of him a lot in this one. Or okay, maybe he really doesn’t have much to do at this point, but, you know, I love Charlie Swan.
- Too much Jacob Black. – Right. I’m not saying I didn’t like him. Truthfully, I like him more than Edward. Say what?!?! I don’t know, I just never really warmed up to the fact Edward only likes Bella for her blood. I mean sure, he says he loves her, but he’s never said why he loves her, he’s never said what little things about her that he likes, or what it is about her personality that he admires. On the other hand, with Jacob, you kind of see what he likes about Bella— because they have things in common (like the truck, and the motorcycle), and they have things they laugh about and stuff. But still, there was just too much of Taylor Lautner being shirtless, and all his shirtless friends. Oh, but the part where he first took his shirt off, actually surprised me so much that it kept me awake for the rest of the movie. So yeah, if it weren’t for Jacob, I might’ve slept through the whole thing. Thanks, Jacob!
- Soundtrack was a bust. – I mean, the soundtrack was the only thing I really liked in the first movie, so how come there were hardly any songs in this one?
- Dakota Fanning! - I probably wouldn’t have watched this if it weren’t for her. Wala lang, I just really wanted to see how she would look and sound now that’s she’s no longer a “child star”. And her part was actually kind of cool. Although it was a bit too “pa-cool”, and so ended up being lame. Oh well. The entire Volturi thing is lame anyway.
- Not enough people from Forks / School Stuff - I think one of the reasons Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Roswell are great series because they juxtapose supernatural stuff with the normalcy of “high school life”. I mean, there are episodes where Buffy’s more worried about what she’s going to wear to a date, rather than what kind of monster is killing Sunnydale residents. So when Bella is alienated from everyone and is just in vampire/werewolf world, well, it just seems like she’s not going through a whole lot. And that makes the story boring.
- First and last scene was WIN. – No spoilers here, but I have to say that the opening (even in the book) was actually pretty cool, which proves my theory, that the idea for the Twilight series, is actually really good. But the execution is just… Blah. I really wish Stephenie Meyer wasn’t such a bad writer (and same goes to whoever wrote the screenplay. I’m not even going to learn his/her name). Anyway, the last scene (or the last line of dialogue, I should say) was also WIN. And not just because it meant that the movie was over. Really, what Edward said, was the perfect way to end the movie, and to leave the audience wanting more.
My brother asked me if it was a good movie and I said that it’s sort of fine, except that the beginning was boring. And then I said, “And when I say beginning, I mean the first hour.” And he said, “Ha!? Isang oras ang boring? Ok, hindi na worth it panoorin.”
So, yeah… That’s it for my weekend. What about yours?
