On the Verge of Lunacy

Set in a different Bakumatsu era in Japan, a loud Sakamoto Ryouma wants to be recognized as a rock star. The shogunate and most of the people however have not heard this kind of music. The sounds created by Ryouma's electric guitar, given by Yoshida Shoin, is strange to people's ears. The Japanese are used to listening to Heaven's Song, which the shogunate uses to control the unsuspecting populace. The current top idols are the Shinsengumi led by Hijikata Toshizou and Okita Souji. Anyone who sings or creates songs besides Heaven's Song will be punished. Ryouma wants to change this and he keeps trying to show people his own brand of music. In one of his impromptu performances, he meets Takasugi Shinsaku who plays bass guitar and Katsura Kogorou, a drummer. Together, they form a band to spread rock music in Japan and to fight for freedom. Sakamoto Ryouma From left: Takasugi Shinsaku, Sakamoto Ryouma and Katsura Kogorou Hijikata Toshiizou (left) ...

Cover for Hakkenden's first season Five years ago Inuzuka Shino's village, Ohtsuka was wiped out. But he and his friends Inukawa Sousuke and Hamaji survived the plague. Since then they lived in a church in a nearby village, but their life was far from peaceful. One day, agents of the Imperial Church came in search of Murasame. It is a living sword spirit which Shino possesses in his right arm. Their friend Hamaji was kidnapped, forcing Shino and Sousuke to come after her. They met Satomi Riou, one of the members of the Four Sacred Beast Houses, who told them to look for the six bead holders. These beads, eight in total, represent the eight young men fought alongside Princess Fuse against Tama-Azusa in the remote past. Riou saved Shino, Sousuke and Hamaji at Ohtsuka before and now has volunteered to be Shino's guardian. The four sacred houses are the fox, the wolf, the snake, and the panther. The first installment of Hakkenden focuses on unraveling some o...

A cryptic video of two masked teenage boys has declared that they are behind terrorist attacks in Tokyo. Nine and Twelve call themselves the Sphinx. Their goal? To wake the world and show them its ugly truths. Detectives and policemen are frantic to solve the case. Sphinx caught the attention of metropolitan police department's Shibazaki Kenjirou who used to work in the investigations division. Currently working at the records division, Shibazaki might just be the one to crack the Sphinx mystery. It seems like Nine and Twelve found a match in the smart Shibazaki who was able to solve their riddles. Apparently Nine and Twelve's past motivate their actions. Nine does all the planning and execution while Twelve does the dirty work. Nine's array of excellent skills complement Twelve's physical prowess. Their meeting with a sad Mishima Lisa could just be the change they needed... or not. Nine Twelve Shibazaki Kenjirou Sphinx sends a cha...

Kujou Kazuya is Saint Marguerite Academy's infamous reaper because of his black hair and black eyes. The only Japanese student in the prestigious school in Sauville, he has not made any friends until he met the doll-like Victorique de Blois who also has a nickname, the golden fairy. She rarely attends class and spends most of her time in the library where Kujou met her. Don't let Victorique's looks deceive you into thinking it's just another romance anime. Gosick is one of the few decent detective series I have seen so far with a female as its lead character. Victorique has a talent for reconstructing chaos , her term for solving mysteries. A famous detective even visits her for her insights. Her curiosity however put her and Kujou in trouble when they board the Queen Berry ship that was rumored to have sunk years ago. That isn't the only case they got themselves involved in however. Most of the series focuses on Kujou and Victorique's adventures in...

Alden Richards (left) and Maine "Yaya Dub" Mendoza (right) in their first proper onscreen date in Eat Bulaga! In the Philippine noontime show Eat Bulaga 's segment Juan for All, All for Juan a supercouple was born. AlDub is a portmanteau of the names Alden and Yaya Dub played by Alden himself and Maine Mendoza, respectively. For those not familiar with Filipino television shows, Eat Bulaga! is a noontime variety show that has been running for 36 years as of this writing. It features contests, comedy segments, and various entertainment portions. One such segment is Juan for All, All for Juan . Before their accidental pairing became an overnight sensation, Richards has been an actor since 2010 (I wrote a review in my blog of Ilustrado where he played the lead role). He was invited to become a host in the noontime show. Mendoza on the other hand became an Internet celebrity through her Dubsmash videos where she lip syncs audio clips, thus her nickname Dubsmash ...

The third installment of Uta no Prince-sama showcases the talented QUARTET NIGHT who seem to be outshining ST☆RISH. In their newly assigned teams, individual members from both idol groups must impress Shining Saotome so they can compete for the opening act in an international sporting event. If ST☆RISH succeeds, they will compete against other performing artists from all over Japan. Nanami Haruka was also assigned by Shining to work with QUARTET NIGHT, earning ST☆RISH's jealousy. The idol groups seem to be in a competition not just for the spot in the competition but also for Haruka's affection. ST☆RISH needs to step up their game. QUARTET NIGHT has more experience and training and it will take more than charm and good looks from Syo, Natsuki, Cecil, Tokiya, Otoya, Masato, and Ren to win it all. ST☆RISH Maji Love Revolutions was a slight disappointment. However, the quality of the animation and the songs have been consistent with the previous two se...

Note: This is my extended review of the Heneral Luna film. This was originally part of my essay for an MA in Literature class which I also posted in this blog. I could not cover everything I needed to say about the film because the essay had a limit. Photos are screenshots from the film taken from various sources. Heneral Luna is a 2015 historical biopic film which covers the beginning of the second phase of the Philippine Revolution until Luna's assassination on June 5, 1899. Antonio Luna at this period in history was the Supreme Chief of the Army under the First Philippine Republic. The story is told from the point of view of the fictional character, the young journalist Joven Hernando, who is shown interviewing Luna at the start of the film. At the outset, Luna's position in the dirty politics of Emilio Aguinaldo's cabinet is clear. He proposed to attack the American forces while they are still weak. He opposed the idea of Felipe Buencamino and Pedro Patern...

I used ballpens and oslo paper then scanned the drawing. I didn't bother editing the photo as you can see.

Note: This is my final paper for Adv. Literary Theory and Criticism, one of my classes in MA in Literature.  October 2015. I'm posting this here as a backup in case I lose my copy and I need a guide in the future. Literature is the soul of a civilization. It is the collection of dreams, ideas and experiences of a people. It is what separates us from animals. It is an examination of our aspirations, happiness, fears and sadness, ideas and opinions. As a student of literature, I have learned that to get the most out of a poem, short story, novel, play or film, I must go beyond simple reading and observation. To do this however, I have to answer first the question "how do we fully appreciate a literary piece?" This essay is divided into four sections, namely; what is literature for me; the literary theories and criticism; Heneral Luna: a film review using the poststructuralist approach; and what makes a good literature? In the first part, I will recall my experiences a...