so what.

I’m doing what every blogger in the planet has done this week. I am writing an Olympic post.

People often talked about how China was more concerned about saving face than actually being part of the history of the Games. Why wouldn’t they? Foreigners suddenly invade a country that’s isolated itself for the most part of the last millenium (they even put up a wall, for goddness’ sake). Athletes worried about the thick smog and the quality of living as they arrive in conspicucous medical masks.  But then to cope up, China built a new airport terminal, reduced fifty percent of their land traffic, shut down factories in the city, conquered an architectural feat by erecting the Bird’s Nest and had their cab drivers learn English. However, the international press still felt constricted with the controversial firewall that would never be entirely lifted.They attempted to make the world’s greatest fireworks display in a densely populated, smog-covered city for the international audience; and the world still makes a fuss about the computer generated bit of it. A cute kid sings their national hymn with a big smile and the everyone keeps busy making an issue of the lip-synching.

So what if they’re saving face? At least they’re winning medals. We send what, fifteen Olympians, and some of them are not even true-blooded Pinoys? Sure, Phelps will always set records and the Dream Team will always hoard points; but we spent our taxes for our athletes to play in this momentous sports event (and for Manny to wave our flag in a backdrop of blue barongs). We don’t swim, fight or punch but we care, dammit.

Funny thought: I just realized that I actually weighed heavier than our gold medal pambato in boxing. Payat niya no? (Or it could go: Taba ko no?) Lol.

But then let’s go over the impressive ones… the ones who’ll get 10, 000 hits on Google just from busy bloggers. If the Games are really named after Mt. Olympus like I assume it is, then I say Michael Phelps is an Olympic god. And weightlifting’s Liu Chunhong is some sort of demigoddess- oh, how she made setting records look so easy. You know, Yao Ming used to give me the creeps. Asian guy standing over seven feet with a strong square-ish face… why won’t I find him creepy? Even my tall cousins used to scare me. But Yao Ming, recently, surprisingly impressed me. So what if he’s got injured knees, broken feet and an infected toe? So what if he’s all tired and burned out? So what if he missed seven of his ten shots? He played majestically; like nothing else mattered more than that orange ball and the pride of his country. So take a breather, big guy… while we patiently hope for a gold and China continues to battle with rival US for that number 1 spot.

Another thing. Because of the Beijing 2008 games, my dream destination- The Forbidden City- has been much more devirginized.

ghost hunting… otaku style

The manga and anime Ghost Hunt stemmed from a novel series by Ono Fuyumi, the acclaimed writer of Twelve Kingdoms. The 25-episode anime aired late 2006 until early 2007. I had finished watching the anime upon onee-chan’s suggestion.

Ghost Hunt tells of the adventures (sometimes, misadventures) of a paranormal investigation team known as Shibuya Psychic Research. The president of SPR is a seventeen-year old researcher named Shibuya Kazuya, nicknamed “Naru” because of his narcissistic attitude and the consequent cold treatment of other people. A first year high school student, Taniyama Mai was forced to take a job in the SPR due to debt from a camera she damaged accidentally. Her talents of clairvoyance and precognition were later discovered after several psychic investigations and an ESP test by Naru. She then learns to work with a complex but very talented combination of characters in the SPR team. Among them is Naru’s Chinese assistant, the reticent Rin Koujo who was revealed to be an onmyoji or a spirit master. Despite a seeming lack of affection from Naru, there are others who acted as Mai’s older siblings: Takigawa Houshou, called Bou-san, a Buddhist monk who is actually a rockstar by profession (specifically a bass musician); and Shinto miko priestess Matsuzaki Ayako who shares Bou-san’s expertise with exorcism incantations but often falls short of expectation. Also part of the team is a very young Catholic priest from Australia, John Brown, who surprises everyone of his ability to exorcise spirits at nineteen years old; and a popular spirit medium from TV, Hara Masako; who can be easily recognized with her kimono outfit. Another character, Osamu Yasuhara, was added to the team after a particular case that he was involved in. The anime featured eight files that the SPR team had investigated while the members struggled with their personal issues such as Rin’s taciturn nature, Ayako’s hidden abilities, Mai’s feelings for Naru and Masako’s resulting jealousy, among others.

Who would have thought a two-dimensional animated show could scare the bejeezus out of a person? I’m not referring to myself but my onee-chan, who was haunted with a couple of sleepless nights if not nightmares. At first, Ghost Hunt appealed to me as a bunch of short stories about the paranormal much like the long-running live drama series Yonimo Kimyona Monogatari. After several minutes I came to realize that the plot of this anime was creative in its own right, perhaps even better than all those popular Asian horror flicks. There still were the commonly used concepts like poltergeists, disturbed spirits, occult phenomenon, haunted buildings and objects; but the various expertise of the SPR team members make their escapades a little more interesting. I’m particularly fond of John because even though he’s very kind and soft-spoken, I think he’s the most kickass personality in their team of psychics. One moment he’s just the cutest boy but once he dons the cassock and begins his exorcism prayers, you know it’s definitely showtime. It was also entertaining to watch Naru’s arrogance and intelligence and how it strangely draws Mai closer to the leader (although it is debatable whether she was falling for the actual Naru or the Naru in her dreams). Favorites aside, the anime honestly got me glued to the screen for hours because of all these characters that add more color to the already captivating storyline. The CG for all the bloody and gory scenes had such an attractive aspect to it. It’s also worth noting that for several episodes, I didn’t skip on the intro and closing credits as I usually would when watching on DVD. The graphics and music were so cool that it didn’t hurt to watch it again and again. The only disappointment I had was that the anime left me hanging. Bitin, is a perfect way to describe it. It also pains me that the anime adaptation was only a small part of such a grand plot in the novel, which must be a great read if only I could get my hands on it.