On this new frontier...what 'bout my star?

True friends of mine know that I am a sucker for the anime "The Super Dimension Fortress Macross" from 1982. The mix of space warfare, transforming planes and robots, an engaging love story and a huge slug of J-pop music made it an instant classic.

Twenty-five years later, Shoji Kawamori and Studio Nue made a brand-new series set about 50 years forward: "Macross Frontier." And dare I say, this is even better than the original.

"Frontier" builds on trademark Macross fare and gives it its own spin with a new direction. It's undeniable that the graphics and animation have improved a lot, thanks to computer-generated footage of the VF-25 Messiah fighter planes in action against the insect-like Vajra alien force. However, the real triumph of "Frontier" over "SDF Macross" lies in its characters.

The main love triangle plays out between pilot/student and former Kabuki actor Alto Saotome, amnesiac aspiring singer Ranka Lee, and the famous pop idol, Sheryl Nome, dubbed the "Fairy of the Galaxy." Interestingly, neither of the two girls resorts to disrespect or catfights. At the core of their relationship is a deep friendship and respect for each other, most evident in how Sheryl directly inspires Ranka to pursue her dream. It just so happens their friendship has Alto as a very huge part of it - he sees through Sheryl's fame and Ranka's clumsiness.

My favorite character however has to be sniper Michael Blanc. An incorrigible flirting playboy, he is actually the most perceptive and sensitive of the feelings building up between our main characters. He challenges the conviction of Ranka's singing ambitions, proves Alto's mettle in joining the private military company SMS, and aids Sheryl when her health and fortunes deteriorate.

As great as the music in "SDF Macross" was, "Frontier" just blows it out of the water. Since there are two pop idols in the series there is a much greater spectrum of songs on tap. Sheryl's sultry, sexy yet emotional high-BPM performance, sung by May'n, is tempered by Ranka Lee's innocent, bubbly but longing pop melodies, performed by Megumi Nakajima. Almost everything is composed by now-legendary anime musician Yoko Kanno, too.

I cannot recommend this title enough. Don't be put off by the eye candy. "Macross Frontier" is a masterfully crafted show.

Time to rebuild, perhaps

Things used to be a lot simpler back in the day. People met online in forum websites purely for discussions' sake. People logged in, made friends, networked, reached out to other friends.

Nowadays there just has to be the odd profiteering gesture thrown in. There just has to be the odd fragile ego that has to be crushed by nothing more than an honest remark. There just has to be the proverbial bad apple in the basket making life miserable for everybody else.

This is the year when I realized I've had my fill of that. Frankly I'm sick of it already. I'm not going to break away and make my own forum because let's face it, that's just going to lead to the very same thing I was complaining about.

Perhaps this is the long-overdue signal for me to get off my ass, stop it with the Internet and just look for a quiet hobby I can enjoy by myself without worrying about inflated egos and over-commercialization. It turns out I had one all along.

After a year of doing other things, I found myself going back to my work-in-progress, my MG Zeta Plus C1 model. I had planned on painting it with my own colors, but somehow I never got it done because I got discouraged by a few mistakes I had made with putty and painting. Funny enough it took a power outage for me to get back to doing it. I just ordered a new kit to replace my botched parts, while I continued putting Tamiya Fine Surface Primer L on the assembled parts.

So far here's what I have to show after 60% of the kit has had primer sprayed on.

Because I'm a hopeless geek...

This is the first YouTube clip I'm posting on my blog, and it's all about the Gundam experience. Funny how this huge empire of merhandising started on April 7, 1979, with a young boy called Amuro Ray and his overwhelming curiosity.

It's also fitting that a remix of the original Gundam opening theme "Tobe! Gandamu!" is used for this clip, showcasing most of the protagonist mecha all through the years.

Enjoy!

Lucked out

Lucked out

By some stroke of good luck, Migs (the "other channel" I was referring to in my last post) has an extra HGUC Gaplant TR-5 'Hrairoo' lying around in his house. It was supposed to be his, but he told me he was too busy with work to work on it and so offered it to me instead of waiting for the next order-taking period. I took him up on the offer and I'm picking it up on Saturday.

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Last night I ate out with Aileen, Matthew, Jajah and Leejay at Yellow Cab Bicutan and we were basically laughing our guts out and being noisy hooligans over pizza and pasta. I guess they sensed I was pensive in church. We were making such a spectacle that the Indian kids at the next table were laughing along with us, probably more to chubby Matthew's jolly jokes and stories.

Jajah and I are friends, but we've gotten pretty close over the last few weeks and I like how comfortable I've become with her, despite misunderstandings in the past. Rubbing elbows and putting heads on shoulders was nice. I haven't had any of that in a long while.

Aileen was gracious enough to keep me company online after our dinner, basically letting the insomnia talk over YM.

Thanks guys, for making me feel good about myself again. Let's all get drunk on February 9.

Impulses

Impulses

After a while of mulling it over I think I won’t proceed with buying that Nokia 5300. Cellphones just don’t hold much currency with me. Most likely I’ll just spring for the DVD player and a set of really nice speakers for my computer as my birthday indulgence; at least it’ll cost me half as much.

I still want a personal music player though. And no, no Ipods please.

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Oddly enough, despite my decision to give up mecha models, there’s one new kit that’s getting my attention—the 1/144 HGUC Gaplant TR-5 ‘Hrairoo’ from the Gundam side-story “Advance of Zeta.” Yes, I know ‘Hrairoo’ is a dodgy kind of name, but the black-and-white kit itself is a very nice improvement over the original green HGUC Gaplant. And it's easily the best MS to come out of the mechanical weirdness that is "AoZ."

The only catch is it’s rather pricey for its size and scale: the Gaplant retails for PhP1600 in malls, and the ‘Hrairoo’ is reportedly JPY200 dearer. If I wanted it that bad, there are other channels, I guess.

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Lately I’ve been learning that I haven’t exactly lived up to the promises I set for myself. I fancied thinking of myself as friendly and approachable; in reality people are scared of my cranky disposition and probably think I’m lousy company.

What got me wondering was the revelation that at least people think I’ve changed somewhat. Gracey told me when the new year had arrived they wondered why I wasn’t as confrontational as before, why I was participating in lunch more often, why I was generally mellower and nicer all of a sudden. To be honest I don’t think it was as sudden as they claim.

The same thing’s happened with my driving. There is an increasing number of nights when I couldn’t care less about delinquent drivers looking for early deaths…just as long as I’m not involved as I’m going my merry way along C5. On the times that I stretch my engine’s legs, I tend to leave more clean air between me and others than before.

So what are the factors that supposedly “changed” me? Maybe I just got tired of making things go my way all the time. I can’t call it a simple waste of effort, as effort should have a direct effect. No, perhaps all of this “my way or the highway” stuff is a waste of giving a damn, of uselessly harping about things I should have ignored in the first place. Perhaps the fact that two of my friends died in 2006 contributed something to the “change,” too.

It’s strange. I don’t feel very different, but people insist something good happened. From past experience I know I would never have had this feedback if I consciously tried.

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At least now I can say I know a little more about you.

You say you’re afraid of me becoming cranky and having the brunt of it directed your way. You probably don’t know that the same is true of me. I am afraid of the power you now have over me.

With you I am faced with a difficult choice, like hanging off a slope while driving a car with a manual gearbox. (Of course I just had to use a car metaphor.) Times like these, it’s the clutch that does the driving. Too much clutch and I will slip backwards; too little clutch and I might smash into whatever is in front of me; and all the while I know I can’t keep hanging off the clutch forever because soon it’ll burn and leave a noxious stink. Either that or I run out of gas.

I am patently scared of falling in love, because I want to avoid making more of the mistakes I made in the past—ones that haunt me to this day. You are, as I said, the antithesis of what I find attractive in most of the women I’ve met: you’re just too quiet. I believe looks will go away, so I put great faith in good conversation.

But I don’t want to leave any regrets either. I want to let you know that yes I do like you very much and I want to learn what I can about you. I want to know why you keep playing the part of the soft-spoken smiling girl all the time when you’re obviously articulate and smart. Is it because you’re afraid I might reject you when you do speak your mind? (Let me assure you that you have yet to disappoint us, let alone me.) Is it because you’re afraid your interests might be too left-field for, ahem, “general consumption?” (I already play the role of resident weirdo, so no problem there.) Let’s just find out along the way shall we?

Do you know what I really want to do?

I want to set aside some time for me to stop being so outspoken and stop laughing like a loon the way I do day in and day out. My monologue can only run for so long before even its sole performer gets sick of the role. Instead, I’d like you to come to the stage and own it. Be yourself. Indoctrinate your audience with what you are and let them acclimatize themselves to your quirks. Make them love you.

I assure you, I will listen, even as an audience of one.