Random Thoughts on the Philippine Cosplay Community of Today

Good day, Philippine Cosplay Community!

Honestly, I am not so sure if I am still part of this community but maybe the answer is yes. Just treat me as someone who's been observing from afar or more like an inactive member of the community. Well, that's because I have not been cosplaying nor attending events.

Be that as it may, my network on Facebook is quite big enough for me to accidentally know the issues of today. Y'know, yung tipong I'm just scrolling sa news feed ko tapos may mababasa na akong mga kung anu-ano.

Ang dami. Sobrang dami, may mukhang seryoso at may mga mabababaw. Good thing is that I never paid attention to the names and identities. I just read without giving a damn kung sino ang nagpost or kung sino ang pinapatamaan niya. Maybe slight? But if I won't get the info then it's okay.

Maybe if I'd blog about everything here, hindi ako matatapos at all. Ang dami talaga. Sobrang daming issues sa PH cosplay community over the years. Minsan nga pakiramdam ko mas malala pa sa showbiz ang hype eh. So siguro pipiliin ko lang yung pag-uusapan natin dito.

1. Sexy Cosplay

Ano pa nga bang uunahin ko? Syempre itong napapanahon. PH cosplay is evolving; the new bloods and even the old ones are starting to be more open to sexy costumes and daring cosplay characters. Natural, hindi ako kasama sa kanila. Sino ba naman ako para magpa-sexy eh lagi nga akong napagkakamalang buntis. Haha! Although kahit siguro sexy ako ngayon, hindi parin yata kaya ng guts kong rumampa in a sexy cosplay.

So what's the usual issue? Ano pa nga ba? Edi syempre ang pagiging conservative nating mga Pilipino. Or more like.. pa-conservative effect lang pala tayo. Haha. May kanya-kanya naman talaga tayong kalokohan, magaling lang tayo magtago. Anyway, so lately yung mga gumagawa ng sexy cosplay eh inuulan ng mga batikos. Yup, mga babae sila syempre. I don't think that people would even care kung lalaki ang nakulangan sa tela. Haha! Baka nga comedy pa ang kalabasan eh.

Personal Movie Review: Attack on Titan (Live-Action Movie)

This is my first ever movie review so I'm pretty sure it'll be informal. Haha! Well, it started out just by expressing my random thoughts about the movie on Facebook since I just watched it few hours ago at the cinema. Surprisingly, some people are asking for a movie review from me and since I got things to say, here it is. Haha!

I've been waiting for this day for so long. August 12, 2015 (Wednesday), the release date of Attack on Titan (Live-Action Movie) here in the Philippines. I bought a movie ticket 3 hours before my desired screening time and I was actually the first person to secure a seat. Of course, I chose the best seat, the eye level.

The movie trailer looked really promising and I got batshit crazy over it. I was so excited to see it. There were times that I got a bit skeptical though; no Levi and a kissing scene? I was not sure how I'd feel about that. The showing date was fast approaching and here comes the early movie reviews. I did not see any positive movie review, not a single one. Be that as it may, I still wanted to see it for myself. I don't decide not to watch a movie just because I read a couple of bad reviews about it.

So eto na! =)

Wilonah Chan's Personal Movie Review for Attack on Titan (Live-Action Movie)

The Emotional Roller Coaster When Someone is Out of Your League

When I started blogging again few months ago, I told myself not to discuss anything related to love and relationships. It's not that I don't want to write about it but I just find it really broad. Since it's a broad topic, a single blog post about it would totally result into being vague. It is a matter of what worked for me and for others may not work for you. It is difficult to talk about it in general since it totally varies in each individual.

Be that as it may, I am having these random thoughts that I think would be a waste if not shared. So before I start talking about it, I want you to know that this might or might not be applicable to you. It would be great if you could relate to it though.

Here I am going to write about the emotional roller coaster that you most likely have to go through when the one you like or love is totally out of your league.

How does society identify someone who is out of your league? Your dream girl? Your dream guy? Well, there are fairy tales, shoujo stories, telenovelas, and movies that can answer that. Hey, there's no judging here, okay? Everything would just be a platonic discussion. In a fairy tale, the protagonist is usually a commoner partnered with a character of royalty. In a shoujo, the female protagonist usually ends up with a super cool and rich male lead. In a telenovela, a maid gets married to the master of the house. In a movie, an ordinary employee gets into a too good to be true relationship with the president of the company.

Okay, let's drop the love-conquers-all-love-has-no-boundaries thing. No, just no. Let us be more realistic in here. 

3 Seconds

Limang buwan na ang nakalipas mula nung naghiwalay sila Nicole at Mark. Sa loob ng limang buwan na yun, walang naganap na komunikasyon sa pagitan nilang dalawa at lalong walang nagbadyang balikan. Limang buwan, sa karamihan, sapat na panahon na para magmove on at makatagpo ng bagong pag-ibig.

Describe natin si Nicole. Katamtaman ang height, maputi, kahawig ni Heart Evangelista na nakulangan ng konting paligo, at itim ang buhok na naka-bob cut. Naka-blouse, mini shorts, at flat shoes.

Wag na natin i-describe si Mark. Katamad eh, basta gwapo siya.

Bente kwatro oras sa isang araw, 60 minutes sa isang oras, 60 seconds sa isang minuto. Sa dami ng pagkakataon, naganap ang 3 segundo ng hindi inaasahang pagtatagpo.

1.. Sa paghakbang ni Nicole napagtanto niyang makakasalubong niya ang lalaking minahal niya ng apat na taon. 2.. Nagkatinginan sila at nagdesisyong umakto ng normal. 3.. Patuloy silang naglakad sa magka-salungat na direksyon.

3 segundo, 3 segundo lang ang kinailangan para mawalan ng saysay ang limang buwan.. ang limang buwan ni Nicole.

Top 10 Annoying People in the Cinema

1. The Smartphone Overuser

The light from his smartphone screen is distracting your eyesight; and it just won't stop all throughout the movie. Yup, he paid for the movie ticket, posted about himself currently watching the movie and told everybody on Facebook how awesome it is. It just so happen that his focus is not on the movie but on his damn smartphone.

2. The Talkative One

This person just won't stop talking, aloud. 'Nuff said.

3. The Noisy Eater

No problem with binge eating. However, there are some people who produce weird noises while eating. Nobody knows why their way of eating sounds like that.

4. The Get-a-room Couple

PDA and making out, sure, it's totally fine; as long as they're somewhere in the far away corner of the cinema. Unfortunately, you can't help but look at them, you will wonder about what they are exactly doing when they are sitting beside you or somewhere near you. Ironically, you're the one who will feel embarrassed.

5. The Kicking Foot

Yeap, you wanna stretch your legs from time to time, that's understandable. However, when someone keeps on "kicking" the back of your chair, it makes you feel dizzy or lightheaded. So much for the shaky "backrest".

6 Senyales na Astig ang Boss Mo

Kung empleyado ka o minsan mong naranasang maging empleyado at habang binabasa mo ito ay may naalala kang tao, ang ibig sabihin lamang nyan ay naranasan mo nang magtrabaho kasama ang isang ASTIG NA BOSS.

Maaari mo ring ituring ang blog post na ito na basehan upang ihulma mo ang sarili mo na maging isang mahusay na leader. There are so many traits of a good leader so I'll just randomly state some factors that I could initially think of. Gusto ko makatulong ito sa kahit na sinong nagbabasa ngayon nito (kahit kaaway pa kita) dahil naniniwala naman ako na lahat tayo dapat mabigyan ng pagkakataon na maging mahusay na leader o maging mabuting follower na magaling pumili ng astig na boss. Yes, some people are better followers. Whether you are born to be a good leader or a good follower, you can be awesome as long as you love what you do. Tutal, walang saysay ang astig na boss kung hindi naman siya suportado ng mga astig na subordinates.

I already became a leader in my previous jobs. I worked as a Learning and Development Coordinator which made me experience conducting trainings for employees who are on the same level as mine, supervisors, and even managers. Being a trainer is also being a leader, regardless of their ranks, basta nasa training, ako ang teacher at students silang lahat. I also worked as an Operations Assistant Manager. I never had a manager that time so figuratively I was the acting department head. I resigned from both jobs for other reasons but that won't be the topic for this blog post. Haha.

My Top 25 Most Played PS1 Games

I would like to reiterate the title, "My Top 25 Most Played PS1 Games". This is my personal list of PS1 games that I used to play the most back then. I am not saying that they are the best among the rest so please do not feel bad if your favorites are not mentioned here and please do not pitch down the ones that you don't like. We all have our own preferences anyway. In relation to that, I'd love to know your own favorites too! Feel free to share your personal list of PS1 games in the comments section. It's gonna be fun since it'll give you that nostalgic feeling!

I'm not gonna be very specific when it comes to some sequels though since I want to just quickly list down everything. Reminisce with me, here it goes!

1. Resident Evil 2: Biohazard

2. Final Fantasy VIII

Networking: Open-minded ka ba?

Tumpak, ang tatalakayin ko ngayon ay ang dark side ng networking a.k.a. MLM (Multi-level Marketing). Uulitin ko, dark side lang, may good side din naman yan pero dark side ang gusto kong topic eh. Don't get me wrong, I don't hate it. I used to be a networker as well. Nagdaan din ako dyan, sadyang hindi lang siya para sa akin. Ang lakas ko sa recruitment kung tutuusin, kaya lang iniwan kami sa ere ng mga upline namin, ayun nagsara. Naka-milyon-milyon na sila eh, pinili na nilang bumuo ng sarili nilang networking business. We can simply transfer to their new company but I chose to just stop since you can't trust people like that. Since they're on top, they're the fast and big earners. What gives us an assurance that they won't leave us again once they generate millions of pesos for the nth time? Networking requires you to trust a lot of people and I can't do that anymore.

That's just a quick summary of my networking experience. Malamang sasabihin nanaman ng mga defensive networkers dyan na napunta lang kasi ako sa bad set of uplines kaya ganito ang pananaw ko. Oh c'mon networking freaks, I'm wiser than that. Hindi naman siguro ako BA graduate para magtanga-tangahan lang. You know how it is kahit saang networking company ka mapunta, dogs eat dogs. It's a wild jungle out there.

Totoo naman, if you have extra money to burn, kung malawak ang network mo, may charm ka, magaling kang magsalita, at sobrang tiyaga mo, may pera naman talaga sa networking. Mababawi mo naman din talaga yung binaba mo in the future. Hindi naman imposible yon.

Ang gusto ko lang sanang i-elaborate dito ay yung side ng networking na puno ng kasinungalingan at panloloko. Hindi mo kailangang masaktan kung networker ka na nasa tuwid na daan. Out ka rito.

So here it goes..

Pabili po! Pabili po! Anong baon mo?

Pilit kong inalala sa abot ng aking makakaya ang mga nilalaman ng blog post na ito. Sobrang saya ko lang dahil sa nostalgia na hatid sa akin ng paglilista ng mga pagkain na binibili ko sa tindahan ng kapitbahay namin at yung mga nilalagay ng nanay ko sa lunch box ko nung bata pa ako. Sa totoo lang napakarami pa at malamang may kanya-kanya rin kayong mga paborito noon kaya kung sakaling hindi niyo man nakita rito ang mga yun, feel free to comment your own list below! 1992 na kasi ako pinanganak so medyo hindi ganun ka-vintage ang listahan ko. Anyway, sabay-sabay nating sariwain ang masasarap na alaala ng ating kabataan!

Pabili po! Pabili po! 

Mabigyan lang ako ng kaunting barya na tigpipiso susugod na kaagad ako sa tindahan para mamili ng kung anu-ano. Nakahiligan mo rin kaya ang mga ito?

Haw Haw

Ito yung tinutunaw mo pa sa bibig mo hanggang sa lumiit na siya.

Religion and Hypocrisy

Disclaimer: Wala akong babanggitin na kahit anong relihiyon dito, kahit sarili kong relihiyon hindi mo mababasa rito. Tutal sa sobrang talamak ng annoying combo na religion + hypocrisy, applicable talaga 'to sa kahit kanino, regardless of religion. Kaya mag-isip ka muna bago ka mag-aklas. Pigilan mo yang defense mechanism mo.

Hindi ako relihiyosong tao at lalong hindi ako bihasa sa teolohiya. Hindi rin naman ako demonyo, minsan mukha lang talaga akong galing sa impyerno dahil sa naiibang pag-iisip at pananalita ko; malayo sa konsepto ng pagiging mabuting tao na nilikha ng lipunan. Nabuo ang mga pananaw ko base sa aking pansariling konsepto ng pagiging tao.

Naniniwala ako na ang pagbibigay pugay sa Diyos ay walang saysay kung puro kabanalan lamang ang alam mong isabuhay. Naniniwala ako na ang una at pinaka-mahalagang sangkap ay respeto. There is no point in being holy if we don't know how to be humane first.

Why Women Would and Would Not Date The Geek You

Warning: This could hurt.

Do not get me wrong, I am both a woman and a geek at the same time; which probably makes me suitable to blog about this particular matter. I am definitely not a feminist nor a sexist, I'm just one hell of a blogger. Let us drop the general relationship discussions that can be applicable to everyone. Let us focus on a niche instead.

If you are a man and you are into gunpla, gaming, and toy collection; and if you are a woman that is being courted or in a relationship with such kind of man, you are in the right place. It is a good decision that you brought yourself in here and decided to start reading this. Open your mind and heart, yea?

I won't go far, here in the Metro, there was a trend called "DOTA o Ako?". It's the most common question in every girl's mind when boys just can't stop playing DOTA. I used to play DOTA (AI, LAN & GG) a lot though, so what's my stand here? I had an ex who was addicted to DOTA and even though I play too, he still managed to make me feel bad about it. There was one time when we agreed to meet somewhere in U-Belt. He was studying at Perpetual Help back then. I am not a Manila person by the way, so the streets there were all just confusing to me. I reached a spot maybe somewhere in Dapitan, ah yes, near that UST gate where the engineering peeps are, then I decided to rest near a billiard hall which was full of college students like me. College boys were starting to notice me because I'm wearing a different uniform, I was studying at Miriam College that time. Now I'm feeling nervous.

Sent my ex a text message, no response. Called him a lot of times and finally he picked up. Just when I'm about to tell him that I'm somewhere uncomfy and I'm already getting scared (am I lost? am I in the right place?), that he should pick me up as soon as possible because I have no idea where the computer shop is (it was a biiiiig place with 2 floors? pacific? can't remember). Yea he just said "Hello." then ended up shouting "Stun mo! Stun mo! Bla.. bla.. bla.." and guess what? He totally forgot that I'm still on the line! Hey, I get it, the battle clash was getting intense. But really, you know that you're supposed to meet your girl and you're not gonna worry first? It was hot, I was tired (came all the way from Katipunan at kina-gwapo niya yon ako pa talaga pumunta sa school area niya), and I was wearing heels so looking for him in an unknown planet was not an option. I waited there at the side of the street for like, forever. We only lasted 10 months. Haha.

So that's just one of my experiences with my geek exes, really. I can write a book if I'd tell everything. Alright, let's proceed.

Top 25 Inspiring Filipina Cosplayers

Hi there! I'd like to introduce myself first so that you would know who the hell wrote this blog post and how dare she created a Top 25 list of inspiring Filipina cosplayers. My name is Wilonah Chan, and I am sharing some photos of my cosplay experience 3 years ago so that you'd have a pretty good idea how involved I was in the cosplay scene before. I am also a cosplayer who got inspired by the craft itself and aimed to inspire others as well. I am introducing myself to you not to show off but to give you a better understanding that I may not be the best cosplayer nor the most experienced one but I can say that I am knowledgeable and not "mangmang" to actually write about my fellow Filipina cosplayers.

I also went through preparing costumes, joining cosplay competitions, traveling out of town for a cosplay event, judging minor cosplay competitions, and showing up on TV sometimes. Have I already convinced you enough that I'm not exactly ignorant? If yes, please enjoy reading until the end! Aside from my personal choices, I asked cosplay enthusiasts via Facebook for names that they want to suggest and out of 40+ amazing female cosplayers, I did my best to choose my Top 25. The ones who did not make it to the list could still be inspiring, but since this is my blog, everything has been under my own discretion. There were some that I just kinda felt short, and I did not include some of them because I know their true colors (and they probably know already that I won't include them because they were such pretentious bitches to me, even bitchier than I am) which make them unfit to be inspirational. I'm too honest. Haha!

I spent looooong hours in checking out all of them, choosing their photos carefully and grabbing them, taking note of the names of the photographers so I could give credit to them (yes, I'm very particular on that since it's my way of giving respect to them), and I certainly spent more hours creating the blog post itself. So I hope that you get to appreciate my efforts and please do enjoy reading!

Top 25 Inspiring Filipina Cosplayers

(in alphabetical order, there's no ranking here, okay?)

Iskwater at Palaboy

Illegal settlers, squatters, o mas kilala sa salitang iskwater. Street children, homeless, o mas kilala sa salitang palaboy.

Through this blog post, I ought to share my personal thoughts regarding the squatters and homeless here in Metro Manila. I won't be discussing about numbers and statistics because it's quite risky to do the math that might lead to false information (this is still a public blog after all) but we are already talking about millions and an insane 2.something (not sure) population growth and unbelievable poverty rate.

I was never born as an iskwater, I acknowledge that, so I am not exactly the expert when it comes to describing the iskwater experience. However, information is all around us which makes ignorance an extremely irrelevant factor. Lumabas ka nga lang sa kalsada at bubuksan mo lang ang mga mata mo, malalaman mo na.

Initially, iskwater ka if you don't have a shelter that you could call your own, legally. Iskwater ka if you can barely feed oneself every single day. Iskwater ka kung nakatira ka sa masikip, mabaho, at maruming lugar. Iskwater ka kung nakatira ka sa ilalim ng tulay o sa isang bahagi ng malawak na gutter.

Palaboy ka kung natutulog ka lang sa kung saan-saan, kung saan abutan. Palaboy ka kung buong araw kang namamalimos. Palaboy ka kapag isang metro nalang taong grasa kana.

Wala gaanong pinagkaiba ang mga iskwater at palaboy. Kadalasan they are partly both. Oo, ang usual na tono tungkol sa kanila eh kawawa naman sila, kailangan nila ng tulong, responsibilidad sila ng gobyerno. But please allow me to sing a different tune instead. These are my personal thoughts, I am not forcing these to you. If you disagree and start to get pissed off, not my problem. Don't read my blog then.

So here it goes..

Wilonah Chan on Quitting Cosplay

It suddenly hit me and so I thought, "What if I did not quit cosplay back then? What if?"

This might totally seem like a personal journal entry but I am betting on it that there are also some other cosplayers out there who might have experienced the same thing as they have decided to quit. Or maybe they don't know it yet, and I hope that through this blog post, some things might become clear to them, or to you. I just realized this won't just be about quitting cosplay but more of a summary of my cosplay journey. Pero hahayaan ko nalang yung title na "Wilonah Chan on Quitting Cosplay" para maikli lang.

There are so many things to explain, so many thoughts to share. Here I will be coming out naked with the truth, reflections, realizations, mistakes, regrets, and things that I'm still thankful for.

10 Senyales na Dapat ka nang Mag-RESIGN sa Trabaho Mo

Marami nang blog ang nagtala ng kani-kanilang listahan ng mga senyales o rason para umalis na ang isang tao sa kanyang kasalukuyang trabaho. Kaya naisipan kong magsulat ng sarili kong version na ang empleyadong Pilipino ang focus ng content in Metro Manila setting. Malaking parte ng itatala ko rito ay base sa aking sariling karanasan. 

Hindi ko layunin na itulak ka sa impulsive resignation bagkus nais ko lamang ibahagi sa iyo ang mga nasa isipan ko na sana kahit paano makapagbigay linaw kung sakaling ikaw ay kasalukuyang naguguluhan. Maaaring makatulong din ang mga ito upang makagawa ka ng mahusay na desisyon at maramdaman mong para kang nabunutan ng tinik sa dibdib pagkatapos.

10 Sensyales na Dapat ka nang Mag-RESIGN sa Trabaho Mo

1. Hindi na sapat ang sweldo mo.

Sa totoo lang, ang konsepto ng mababa at mataas na sweldo ay depende sa tao. Paano? Depende sa tao sapagkat iba-iba naman tayo ng needs and lifestyle.

We don't work just to survive, we work to improve the quality of our lives. Yan ang bagay na napagtanto ko sa sarili ko nang minsan akong nag-settle for less pagdating sa category na compensation and benefits.

Dito sa Pinas, parte na ng kultura natin na nakatira tayo sa ating mga magulang hanggang sa kanilang pagtanda. Walang problema doon, kung tutuusin maganda rin naman yon dahil mapapanatili mo yung "heart" mo for your family. Yes, guilty ako for losing myself and my care for them due to my independent lifestyle. So if you reside with your parents, ma-swerte ka dahil kahit paano malaking bahagi ng sweldo mo at maaaring lahat pa ang mapapakinabangan mo para sa pansariling ginhawa. Not unless ikaw ang breadwinner.

GWAPO KA BA?

So I really looked for this particular Facebook status of mine posted on September 29, 2014 because I feel that it deserves to have its own blog post. It was just a spur-of-the-moment kind of thing when I wrote this but for me it turned out just fine. Anyhoo, here it goes!

Kailangan kong isulat 'to ngayon na, baka mawala pa. Seryosong post 'to, at oo, may ganitong side talaga ako. Sana tumagos din sa inyo katulad ng pagtagos sakin ng mga nakita at napagtanto ko.

GWAPO KA BA?

by Wilonah Chan

Kaninang pauwi ako galing trabaho, inabutan ako ng malakas na ulan habang nakasakay sa jeep. Sa isip-isip ko, "Pucha, wala akong payong. Bat kasi hindi pako bumili-bili." Kailangan ko nang bumaba, bahala na, susugurin ko nalang, at walang pagdadalawang isip akong pumara. Joke ko lang palang susugurin ko ang malakas na ulan, dali-dali din naman pala akong sisilong.

The Simple Truth Behind Love Triangles

LOVE TRIANGLES NEVER LAST.

Why?

Personal Choices: Movies to Watch in 2015

Just a list of upcoming movies that I want to make sure I won't miss any of them.

Taken 3

PH Release Date: January 14, 2015

The Boy Next Door
PH Release Date: January 28, 2015

Prologue

*thinking*
type.. type..
<-backspace
type.. type..
<-backspace

What would be the perfect first sentence for the first blog post?

There goes the first sentence, it has to be a question of what it should be - problem solved.

Step One: BOOKMARK This Page

Hello there! First of all, thank you for spending time in visiting and reading this blog. Whatever the reason is that you are here, I do hope that I would be able to touch your lives through my eclectic way of expressing my thoughts. In this blog, I will be using two languages, English and Filipino, both modern and traditional; depende sa feels ng nais kong iparating.

As you decide to become a reader of this blog, our reader-writer relationship would be like a marriage. To become a suitable reader of this particular blog, just like in marriage, I highly suggest that you manifest TRUST.

What does it stand for?

Truth - Always remember that the aim of this blog is to express the truth about how we think and feel regarding random situations that we experience in our lives. Bawal ang plastik at sinungaling dito, bawal ang nagmamalinis at hugas kamay, serbisyong totoo lamang.

Respect - Self-explanatory. Nobody forces you to visit this page, walang pumipilit sa'yong magbasa rito kaya magbaon ka ng maraming respeto.