Searching the City for the Needed Books

It's not easy when school asks a lot from you. Be it for homeworks, papers, exams or stuff like that. You've got a lot of requirements to fulfill in order for you to get good grades or at the very least, pass the subject... or at least make an effort to do so. Once you have schoolworks, you've gotta do it eventually... even if the deadline's far off.

Now, in my case, I'm a college student majoring in literature, meaning I deal with books, writing and more than just that, theories and stuff pertaining to history, philosophy and issues in our world today. In relation to this, as per requirements, I've been going all over the city last weekend to find certain books that I need for schoolwork; 1) graphic novels/comics (locally made ones) for my thesis and 2) another novel for a paper in one of my subjects. I know that it's not gonna be an easy task since it's finding a few needles in a haystack known as Metro Manila. (speaking of which, I think I should change my blog title. Maybe on my blog anniversary... Weird how I'm not good with titles and I'm majoring what I'm in. OK, I'm already going off topic.)

So let the search.... begin!

It began last Friday with my first stop being Araneta Center in Cubao. The place was suggested to me by my dad because the National Bookstore branch there was big. Since Cubao's a commercialized area, seemed like a good place to start. Before going there, I went to school at first but the teachers I had to meet weren't there so I left immediately. I headed first to the National Bookstore branch along Quezon ave, since it's along the way. Didn't get anything good there, though I've seen stuff I remembered from the Manila International Book Fair (wow, it's been over a month already). From there, I went to Cubao. I spent a while at the NBS brach there, next to Gateway. Again, nothing good. Although, there was one comic that I've been seeing a lot and checked it out but I decided not to buy it yet... until I bought in on Sunday in TriNoma. There were other comics I could've used, but sadly, the other volumes weren't available. After that, I got lost in Araneta and checked out some Christmas decors near Farmer's Market. I went to SM and TriNoma after but didn't find what I needed. All in all, the Cubao trip ended up with getting nothing. :(

Christmas decors in Araneta

Next day, Saturday, I stayed within Manila. Saturday's a class day for me, but it's only one subject and it's an hour long. Before getting to the books, I searched some places where to get books and since Recto is a place to go, I decided to go there first. After class, I changed clothes and headed to Quiapo. Man, Recto sure did have a lot of books. I haven't seen that many in one place since the MIBF. In the end, despite the number of books, I didn't get a thing. After walking around Recto, I headed to the City Hall since I read there was a book shop in the underpass that sold some books (Books from Underground. Check their page). Since it seemed promising, there I went. Sure enough, it has some things that I was looking for and it was there where I finally got the novel for my paper. With that done, only the comics were left. My next destination for the day was Robinsons Manila. Didn't see much there really... :/ All I did was have dinner, checked their NBS branch, wandered around and that's it. Before going home I headed to SM Manila... Again, nothing, though it had more variety than the other malls I went to so far. At least I was able to get something at the end of the day

Fountain at Robinsons Manila

Sunday was probably (if not definitely) the most promising day. This time, I headed to Greenhills, SM Megamall and Robinsons Galleria. Good thing this time I only had to look for the comics since the other's done. Since there were comic book stores in all three locations, I'm sure I'd get something out of it. I thought that if things went well, I'd get at least 3 novels when I finished searching. First, I went to Greenhills and the first place I went was Fully Booked. The place looked amazing and in addition, there was a Comic Odyssey branch there, which sells comics, both local and international. After being there for a bit, I headed for the main mall. Finally found a good comic that I could use at the NBS branch there. By the way, it was the last one and it was by Francisco Coching, a national artist whom I recently just learned about... (Maybe I should familiarize myself with these people more...). Before leaving Greenhills, I made one last stop at Fully Booked/Comic Odyssey before heading to my next stop which was SM Megamall. Nothing too special there but the Filbars branch had some locally made comics that I've seen back at, again, the MIBF (It's like it's coming back to haunt me... o_o). I just went around SM and headed to Robinsons Galleria since there's another Comic Odyssey there. The one at Galleria is bigger so chances are, I'll definitely get something, which I did. Even Galleria had some titles I saw from the Bookfair and since I bought the first two volumes of a title back then and the last ones were already at the store, I may as well. With that, it makes it two titles down. After that, I went back to Megamall and just went around, but I did check the bookstores before heading back to TriNoma. Just saying, there were cosplayers at Megamall since there was an event (didn't attend, though I knew about it...). I decided to buy the first part of another graphic novel in TriNoma. Sunday ended good.

Some pics from Sunday.

At Greenhills.

Greenhills, San Juan.

At Robinsons Galleria. Comic Odyssey is right there next to Trust Trade.

Po from Kung Fu Panda at SM Megamall. This wasn't the cosplay event I was referring to though...

So, all in all, I found the novel I needed near Manila City Hall. As for the comics, I found one at Greenhills, more volumes at Galleria and bought the last at TriNoma (though it's just part 1, part 2 is always available and I've seen it and I can buy it anytime, hehehe...). That makes it three. Good thing the teachers were fine with them. I'm steps closer to getting the goal. :)

But once all my school stuff's done, not sure what will happen since, chances are, I'll not be needing the books anymore. Maybe I could keep them for myself as good entertainment. Or maybe I could give them away. No good wasting books, right? :)

School ain't easy... but I sure hope I can pass... ^_^

With that, I'm done. Thanks for checking! :)

Cosplay Mania 2014

Cosplay Mania 2014 Evolution

It seems like it's been a long time ago since Cosplay Mania 2014, although it was only the other weekend. Good thing that I can now post about this event (though I did post about my "after-feeling" before). Probably of all the events I attended, this is one of the best and biggest ones for sure. This is my younger brother's 2nd cosplay event (his first being Toycon last June). While it's not the first time I went to CosMania, since I went to SMX-MOA during last year's, this is the first time I REALLY attended this event because last year I was only there for a short time and didn't buy a ticket. Plus, it was late at night (mga 7-7:30 or so) then and I also came from school. Now... let's get to it, shall we?

Dealer's hall @ CosMania

After finally getting the tickets in a (miserable) trip to MOA, me and my younger bro headed to day 2 of Cosplay Mania 2014. Good thing it didn't rain that day, otherwise it'd be bad, especially for the cosplayers I'm sure. We got to the place sometime between 1:30-2 PM. When we got to the hall, we went around and decided that we'd upgrade the tickets later, as I originally got bronze passes which only allowed access to the dealer's hall.

Standing room only...

Freedom hall.

These were the first cosplayers I had a pic of.

Pokemon cosplay. :)

Activity stage, dealer's hall.

Keybie Cafe. I gotta admit, they're simple, but really nice. I remembered back at Best of Anime 2013, I got an Adventure Time one (Finn and Jake). Didn't get one this time though...

Freedom hall

I don't think I'll ever buy one of these... even if I had all the money.

Doraemon and friends. Didn't have a good pic of them... next time maybe.

After a while we decided to have our tickets upgraded to silver. First I had mine upgraded, but not my brother yet since he was taking part in some activity at the stage and while he was there, I went around the place. Around that time, I was able to see prominent cosplayer Kaname at the Cosplay Shop. Later on, we were able to see the others, like Reika. After having my brother's upgraded, we entered function room 5 (main stage area) at about 4 PM and saw the performances and the cosplay tournament. My brother stayed to watch the happenings and ako naman, went around and all. We left SMX for a bit 'cuz my brother wanted merienda. Actually, we left SMX twice; first, before we upgraded our tickets and again at around 5...

Kaname

Events stage

During the Cosplay Tournament of Champions (TORCH)

Comic Alley. I used to go there a lot. Not so much now, probably because of the conventions I've been going to...

Upon returning to SMX from the 2nd floor of the mall at a back entrance, we went back to the main stage area. Again, I went around as my brother watched the performances. Daming tao talaga nun. The crowd peaked in the afternoon 'till early evening when we left. Gotta admit, cosplayers were all amazing. Seemed like, for some reason, I kept running into a League of Legends cosplayer. Not sure if that was the most common cosplay but there were also many other series from different genres. From games, cartoons, comics, anime, pop culture... Too bad I didn't get any coscards. After a while, me and my bro left the place at almost 7 PM. We didn't get to the winners of the cosplay tournament.

What's your fanbase?

 

I already mentioned it but it felt weird when the event's over. I also realize, I missed some things. I gotta make sure I won't in next year's event. Certainly, I would say that this was a great event and next year seems promising, since they'll be occupying function rooms 1-5. Hopefully I can go by then and while I still can attend these things, I intend to do so... Also nice that my bro had a good time as well. :) And to the cosplayers that I met that day and had pics of... thank you. :)

You can check out some of my other Cosplay Mania pics here

And with that... I wrap up my post. Thanks for checking it out! ^_^

La Naval de Manila 2014 - The Procession

During the La Naval de Manila festivities, the highlight and finale of the event is the grand procession in the afternoon of the feast day. Here, thousands upon thousands of devotees accompany the miraculous image of Our Lady of  La Naval and many other saints as they go around the streets of Quezon City, remembering the miracles done by God through what we believe came from Mama Mary's help. Here devotees commemorate the miraculous victory of our forces against the far more powerful Dutch in the battles of 1646. It's called the "procession de las processiones" and, while it does not have the overwhelming factor as the Quiapo fiesta, or the extravagance of the Sinulog (which I've never been to, hehe) it has a more solemn and disciplined atmosphere. All roads lead to Sto. Domingo church, where it all takes place.

Ever since I've attended this event since my first one in 2007, it's become something of a tradition of mine every year to attend it and something I always look forward to, even if the feast is far off. This year's however was nerve wracking since it was raining hard in the afternoon and I left my place while it was still raining. I even had to go through a flood on the way to Sto. Domingo when I took a tricycle (since I took a jeep to Sienna and then rode a tricycle to Sto. Domingo). When I came to the church, it was still raining, but not as hard and by that time, the weather was going to clear up. That was about 4:30 and even by then, the procession hasn't began. It finally started at almost 5 when the image of San Lorenzo Ruiz came out of the church compound. As the procession went on, the rains stopped although it drizzled a bit when the image of Our Lady came out, but despite that, thankfully there were no more rains. It goes to show that there are miracles and blessings even in the midst of the storms. The image of Our Lady of La Naval was already out at around quarter to 6.

Processional

 Left: San Lorenzo Ruiz de Manila   Right: Letran band accompanying San Vicente Liem de la Paz

Sta. Magdalena de Nagasaki, San Juan Macias and San Martin de Porres

 Left: Images of the saints   Right: San Vicente Ferrer

Sta. Catalina de Sena

San Pedro Martir

 Left: Sto. Domingo de Guzman  Right: St. Joseph, spouse of Mary

O Lumen ecclesiae...

Estandartes of the Mysteries of the Rosary which go before the image of Our  Lady of La Naval

Dominican friars

 Now, here's Our Lady of La Naval...

I followed the procession until it reached Banawe and from there, I headed to Quezon Ave. There, the first few carozzas were heading back to Sto. Domingo. It is at Quezon ave where one could see how big the crowd was. From there, I stayed mostly near the footbridge at Banawe and went around, while waiting for Our Lady. When Our Lady came, I followed until the image came back to Sto. Domingo Church.

Thousands attend along Quezon Ave. Taken at Banawe ave

Here comes Our Lady...

Regina Sacratissimi Rosarii, ora pro nobis...

La Gran Senora de Filipinas carrying her Son, Jesus...

Thousands of devotees fill Quezon ave for the procession

The Saints as they await for the Queen's return

Back at Sto. Domingo, the images of the saints already took their place to welcome Our Lady. Thousands of people also gathered at the church to welcome her. To prepare for the image's return, radio anchor Jun Banaag (aka: Dr. Love), one of the emcees led the people in shouting "Mabuhay, birhen ng La Naval!". When the image came, roars and cheers came from the massive crowd, cameras clicked and people waved towels. I headed inside the church through one of the side entrances. The huge church was beyond standing room only. The atmosphere was incredible. Where I was wasn't a great spot since I could only see a bit of the baldachino but at least, I can see the activities at the sanctuary and had the effort to take pics when Our Lady was enthroned. The Sto. Domingo Grand choir led the people in the singing with their angelic voices. Leading the crowd in the act of consecration was Boots Anson-Roa. After words of thanks from the shrine's rector and Dr. Love, the event closed with the singing of Our Lady's hymn, the Despedida a la Virgen (you can listen to it in Youtube here).

Our Lady of La Naval triumphantly enters the shrine...

Our Lady arrives amidst cheers

Mabuhay ang Birhen ng La Naval!

Our Lady being returned to the baldachino as the choir sings "O Beata Mater"

Our Lady enthroned once again. Viva la Virgen!

Bro. Jun Banaag emceeing the event

Boots Anson-Roa leads the act of consecration

After the Despedida and the celebrations.

Check out more of my photos here

And with that, La Naval de Manila 2014 is officially over. So many things have happened and thank you Lord and Mama Mary for all the blessings. Hopefully, at next year's feast, I'll be there again and again in the years to come. 'Till then...
Viva la Virgen! Salamat Maria! Praise to the Lord!

Madre amorosa, prenda de amor, Adios! Adios!

(last lines of the Despedida a la Virgen)