Filipino YouTube Parody References Another Filipino YouTube Parody

You know YouTube is huge in the Philippines when Filipino YouTube parodies start referencing other Filipino YouTube parodies.

Ang Pagluluksa kay Bantay: Huling Pantasya VII parodies the game Dirge of Cerberus: Final Fantasy VII while making a ridiculous number of seamless references to the Keys Me viral video. Watch the first episode if you can read Filipino.



Apologies to my non-Filipino readers for the language barrier and in-jokes. Trust me, it's hilarious to a Filipino gamer.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again: mobile social video is the untapped killer app for 3G in the Philippines.

Anime Purpose-Designed for Viral Marketing, Part 2

A while back, I proposed that many modern anime are purpose-designed for mashability and viral marketing. More proof: the Haruhi Dance and Mikuru Beam video memes, both from the same anime.



I could swear those scenes were deliberately made for mashability. I won't even get started on how easy the title character is to cosplay: she wears a schoolgirl uniform with a distinctive armband.



GaiaX's Misayo Kurata actually gave copies of the Haruhi Dance to several members of the Philippine IT press, to show them what Japanese viral video marketing is all about.

Philippine Startup to Demo for TechCrunch

TechCrunch's Marshall Kirkpatrick says he'll soon get a demo from Philippine Web IM startup Wablet. This is a first for any Philippine startup. Can't wait to hear what he has to say about it.

Asia Agcaoili Visits There

Sexy sex columnist Asia Agcaoili visited There Philippines last night to answer players' questions on -- what else -- sex. They went at it for hours.



In case anyone's wondering, Asia tweaks her own MySpace and GrooveNet profiles. Yes, she knows what's going on with Tila Nguyen.



Yes, that's lines and lines of HTML she's tweaking. Check out her online sex toy shop.



Here's Asia with GrooveNet President Greg Kittelson (left) and myself. I got to keep my shirt on this time.

Links:
Asia's official site
Asia on MySpace
Asia on GrooveNet
Asia's Sex Confidential
Asia's Toys

Inquirer Features Filipino Cosplayers: Behind-the-Scenes Videos

The Philippine Daily Inquirer featured Filipino cosplayers yesterday. Multiawarded cosplayer Gilbert Sagun gives us two video peeks behind the scenes of the photoshoot.





Check out the Counter-Strike parody bit in the second vid.

Inquirer Features Filipino Cosplayers

The Philippine Daily Inquirer's Bianca Consunji features Filipino cosplayers. Check 'em out.

Filipino Cosplayers at the Mandarin

The Philippine Daily Inquirer invited Pinoy Cosplay members for a photoshoot at the Mandarin Oriental over the weekend. Their pictures are coming out in the broadsheet soon, but here's a sneak peek behind the scenes from Filipino cosplayer Neil Yamato.

John Cuneta on Why Philippine Online Gaming is Stagnant

Now chatting with top Filipino gaming blogger John Cuneta. JC posits that Philippine online gaming is currently stagnant, for the following reasons:

1) The gaming industry is stagnant because these companies want to control the industry for themselves instead of giving the users control (just like what they are doing in the West, Korea, China, Taiwan -- they listen to the people). They themselves already sealed the market's downfall so they'll soon die themselves.

2) The Filipino gaming community is already split into two -- those who don't believe them but believe their fellow gamers, and those who believe them but don't believe their fellow gamers. The division is so great, it is scary. I never thought it would end up like this.

Sound familiar?

Local TV Copies YouTube Vid, Fails

You know YouTube is huge in the Philippines when mainstream TV starts copying formats from its users. Here's proof that a poorly staged mainstream media copy can't match a truly organic social media original.



Here's the social video original: Keys Me. Note the ironic applause.



Here's the mainstream TV copy: Whenever, Wherever. Note the stupid laugh track.

TV is dead. Long live social video.

Hersh: Bush Planned Lebanon War

A bloody war as a simulation for an even bloodier war? That's sick.



Sy Hersh, the Pulitzer Prize winning investigative journalist who exposed the atrocities at Abu Ghraib, alleges that Bush planned the war in Lebanon -- as a test run for a planned war in Iran.

Filipino 4th in WCG Asia DoA4 Event

Filipino tech reporter Alex Villafania fights his way to fourth place for Dead or Alive 4 at the World Cyber Games Asian Championship, playing the busty British assassin Christie.



Congratulations on winning honor for your country in the world's most technologically advanced fighting game, Alex! In celebration of your victory, Christie is now on my desktop. Hope this inspires more Filipina DoA cosplay!

PC 25th

I still remember building my first PC around an Intel 8088 processor and a Hercules graphics card. Happy 25th birthday to the PC.