One last post before I get to work.

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I HATE Bobby Pacquiao

Lots of hate these days eh? But he seriously deserves it. I can’t believe this shmuck has the balls to go on live national television and tell people that “hinde sadya(sp?) yung mga low blows niya. You hit the guy below the belt 3 times Bobby, fucking 3 times. Fuck you. You’re a cheater. A cheap brawler. A typical Filipino who tries to get out of a bad situation by lying and insisting on his innocence. You don’t even have the balls to own up to the fact that you hit the guy below the belt intentionally. The only reason you’re in the ring is because of your brother, and you squander it that way? Asshole. Just tag along with big brother Manny and stop pretending to be a boxer.

Please top bitching that Freddie spent more time training Manny than training you, because he’s probably just training you as a favor. I mean, is that why you were overweight before the fight, cause you were pining for Freddie and pigged out on comfort food? Is that why you hit the guy in the cajones, cause Freddie wasn’t there long enough to tell you that hitting a guy in the balls isn’t allowed in professional boxing? If you can’t tell the difference between a low blow and a proper one, you don’t even deserve to be in the ring.

And lastly and most importantly, lose the moustache, you don’t deserve it.

I hate Toy Kingdom

The SM malls have a history of being the place where all of the socio economic classes meet; Not as masa as Ever and not as posh or sosi as Shang and Podium, but somewhere in between. Their department store and affiliates like ourHome, surplus shop, and even watson’s offer quality goods at affordable prices. For the most part, Toy Kingdom adheres to that directive, but when you venture into their electronic/interactie section it’s a totally different story.

The Wii, which is priced at $250 in the US (12500 pesos when converted, more or less), is now being sold in Toy Kingdom for the grand total of 30,000 pesos. When I asked the saleslady why it was so expensive, she just said it was the “latest, kase, ser.”. I don’t blame her, since I’m sure the owners of Toy Kingdom don’t even bother to educate their managers about their products, much less their salespeople. I was tempted to ask for the manager, but I’m not that belligerent and I didn’t intend on buying a unit that day anyway, but I was pretty annoyed, nevertheless.

I just don’t get it. Even if they imported these consoles from the US, it’s just unbelieveable that they’d mark up the prices to more than 200% the console’s retail value. It starts to make even less sense when you consider that SM City’s Toy Kingdom is a natural extension of their toy department, whose consumer base is the masses. When I was still in a toy collecting binge way back I would buy most of my toys there because the smaller specialty shops were charging an insane markup on toys (because they were more knowledgeable and knew the actual market value of certain hard to find items). So why does the opposite become true when it comes to electronic toys?

This isn’t a case of the console being “the newest”, because on average, their current gen games and consoles are also priced higher than they would be in specialty stores in greenhills. Hasn’t anyone in upper management figured out that if they lowered the price on games people might actually start buying more from them than say, Datablitz (which offers games with a more palatable markup)?

On another tangent, if video game companies are worried about software piracy here and around the region, they should make sure to check out how much big retailers like Toy Kingdom are selling their products. Games and consoles are already priced incredibly high, but when even the games themselves are erroneously priced at 3000++ the incentive to buy an original game drops considerably.

Sitting next to the Wii was the PS3 console which if you bought it in Toy Kingdom would set you back a whopping 60 grand. The retail value of the unit in the US is $600, which amounts to 30k when converted here. Perhaps the PS3 pricing is a bit more understandable, especially if the guy they had lining up for it in the US was shot in a PS3 drive-by.

I don’t really care as much though, because I’m cold to the PS3 at this moment. I’m looking to get a Wii, and had Toy Kingdom marked it up to say, 17,500 pesos, I might have considered getting the unit already. By pricing it at 30,000, not only will I shy away from getting it now, I’ll make sure to get my Wii and Wiigames at some other store, one that won’t take advantage of my gaming need so recklessly.

To Filipino gamers reading this, I’d like to ask you a favor.  Please link this up and spread it as far and wide as you can.  I’m really curious as to why they price their videogames that way, and maybe if we make enough of a ruckus, they’ll send some sort of response.  I doubt it, but you never know.

Gilbert Arenas isn’t famous enough

I don’t know whether to be amused or annoyed. Gilbert Arenas, who likes video games so much he even sponsors his own Halo team, is mock complaining that he couldn’t get a PS3 or Wii despite his celebrity status. Says Arenas, “That’s when you sit in your room and try to use your celebrityism. I didn’t get nothing. I knew I should have called and said I was D-Wade. ‘Um, hello, this is D-Wade – This is LeBron – Can I come over there and get one of them?”.

Seriously Gil, it’s cool that you’re so interested in gaming, but if you really wanted a PS3 or a Wii, you should’ve gotten in line, or better yet, just paid some kid pocket change (aka two hunnerd dollars) to wait in line for you for a week or so, and maybe throw in a kevlar vest if you want him to line up for the PS3. But expecting a PS3 or Wii delivered to your doorstep just because you’re who you are? Come on now, let’s be fair.

Remember when you busted your ass all of last year only to be snubbed in the All Star game? That’s exactly how those kids camping out would’ve felt.

No launch parties for us, but there’s always eBay

Unfortunately for us Filipinos, we live in a technological backwater and it can take a while before current generation technology reaches us.  Thanks to the internet however, we’re free to surf the web and look in envy at people lined up for their PS3s and Wiis during the recent “launchageddon” of next gen consoles.

While we wait for the consoles of our choice to make their way to our shores, here are a few ebay links that just might sate your gaming appetite.

Why bother with a PS3 or Wii when you can get a complete Nintendo DS package for just 6000 pesos?  And if you need any games, you can try hitting some of these.

Also, while you ought to be wary of people selling Wii and PS3 related email addresses, it looks like genuine PS3 sellers have finally filtered into ebay.ph, though I can’t vouch for their integrity.

Philippine soccer team reaches regional finals, 5 fans celebrate victory.

So apparently we’re getting better at soccer, which is a good thing because we have a genetic drawback when it comes to basketball. The Philippine soccer team trumped Brunei, 4-1 in order to advance to the AFF (formerly Tiger Cup) league finals, coming second to overall winner Laos. Laos was the only team to beat the Philippines, fashioning a 2-1 victory from tactical errors made by the local squad.

Visit pinoysoccer.com for more info. They gush a little too much and are sometimes retardedly optimistic about our chances in the world of football, but they do a decent job of keeping pinoy soccer fans updated.

As an aside, I actually know the Philippines’ team captain, Ali Borromeo from our days in Lasalle Green Hills. At the time, he was deciding whether to pursue soccer or basketball as a sport. He chose soccer, and it looks like his timing was perfect.

Getting Jazzed up all over again

I haven’t been excited about the Utah Jazz for a long time.  I never gave up on them, but after the Stockton/Malone era ended I knew it would take them some time to build a playoff caliber team again.  The time is now.  I know I’ve gushed overt eh new Jazz before, but a 10-1 start just can’t be ignored.  And this is with Andrei Kirilenko sidelined (someone get some meat on that skinny Russian so he doesn’t keep getting injured) to boot.

I happened across this terrific article by Bill Simmons on Kevin Garnett earlier, and thought I’d link up to it because it really highlighted all the reasons why I have so much respect and pity for Kevin Garnett.  “The Kid” is 30 years old already, having played 30 years in the NBA.  He’s one of the hardest working guys in the league, and he’s never turned his back on the Timberwolves.  Not once did he try to pull a Vince Carter and play badly in order to get out of a bad situation, and that demands respect.  I really really hope they get some good guys to back him up before he snaps.

My professor was wrong, we are stupid enough

I had an STS (Science, Technology, and Society) professor who announced to the class that the post apocalyptic cyberpunk future of the matrix would never occur because people aren’t stupid enough that they would build robots that would be smarter, faster, or stronger than they are. All due respect to my professor (he was one of the better ones actually), he was wrong, and here’s the evidence.

Leading the charge in creating a robot society, the US, South Korea, Germany, and even India are developing robotic soldiers to replace their human armies. Robotic.Soldiers. Let that sink in. Robots created to maim, wound, and kill. These first generation killing machines will inevitably be inept, prompting researchers and scientists to say “damn, we need to make these things smarter.”

Of course, it’ll take a couple of iterations before these bots reach Matrix or even Terminator levels, so we’re safe. Our grandchildren are fucked, though.

Hugh Laurie on American Accents

 

Hugh Laurie, when asked about his American accent in an interview once replied: It’s as if you’re playing left-handed. Or like everyone else is playing with a tennis racket and you have a salmon. I moan about it a lot. I wonder how he feels about Australian Jesse Spencer, who plays the Australian Dr. Robert Chase in “House MD”.

Pissed off would probably be an understatement.

Pacquaio wins fight, media frenzy ensues

Because I think Quinito Henson and Chino Trinidad are the worst boxing commentators ever, and I’m sure that the local media bias will be on Manny’s side and give retardedly exagerrated reports of the fight, here are some independent reports of the end of the Pacquiao/Morales trilogy.

And lest some closed-minded Pacman fanboy stumbles across this fight and decides to lambast me for my lack of Patriotism, I’m proud that Manny won, and he proved lot of people wrong when they thought that all his extracurricular activities would take a toll on his fighting form. If anything, this is the best Pacman we’ve seen in his entire career, mixing fluid footwork with a varying attack pattern with his natural power and speed.

But I have to give props to Morales. The heart of a champion is most easily perceived when he’s in dire straits, and the fact that Morales stood his ground, and even managed to trade blows with a much more powerful Pacquiao, says something about his character. In a way it was a passing of the torch from one champion to another, and hopefully 5 years from now Pacman will have as much grace and heart when it comes his time to think about retirement…to become the next Philippine president. You know it’s gonna happen.