Still, I can’t believe our event’s approaching in just one week! I’ve hired on photographers while currently seeking out video editors to film the night. Skyping with Dumbfoundead’s management was also a lot of fun, lol.

Anyway, came across this picture on Facebook:

The caption said: “A Christian group shows up to a Chicago gay parade holding apologetic signs including: “I’m sorry for how the church treated you.”

With that said, it ties in nicely with the video below:

Boo effin yea.

It took a whole year to collect a budget worth reimbursing all the mfking expenses affiliated with this event. Then again, it only required a simple suggestion at a meeting last year to plant an idea that would later develop into what we call the largest KCUTSA party of the decade.

It’s kinda funny how when I first brought up the idea, no one at the meeting agreed, ahaha… After coaxing a friend in LA to speak with DFD as well as corresponding with his manager, they were finally convinced that it could possibly happen. I then disclosed the idea to a few others outside of our team and some half-heartedly agreed it would work out. Blank words of encouragement, empty compliments – the usual you’d expect.

Then there’s that shitload of drama and terrible management in [That Which Must Not Be Named] last year. I wanted nothing more than to kick those two morons into a sea of lava and eat my pho while ignoring their pleas. Being one of the youngest on their team was an aggravating experience. Though I learned a few wise lessons in humility, it infuriated me to see that some of the most IDIOTIC people on the face of this continent were leading the rest of us into a pending disaster of poor planning, shitty execution and a severe lack of accountability.

Now with this event, I can happily say that Ben and I are running things exactly the way we want it at the pace that we believe is appropriate. In fact, the timing’s been nearly impeccable and we’ve always been on-point in communication. Looking back in the beginning of November when Ben and I informed the team of what we wanted to accomplish, it’s almost surreal to think of how much and quickly we both HUSTLED to process this event.

I had to formulate the contract for DFD and Zo, maintain constant feedback with his management, establish various sponsorship packages, plan the entire itinerary for the night, and then correspond with the owners of Screen Lounge to sign our rental agreement as well as negotiate prices for their bar quota and drinks. Immediately afterwards, I booked DFD and Zo’s plane tickets and hotel accommodation, and ensured that they avoid any issues at the border (hopefully). On a regular basis, I’ve been delegating tasks to the team members while checking their progress, and posting up long-ass documents to update them consistently. By allocating our funds to every aspect of the event, I also had to search and acquire the suitable pro-audio equipment for DFD and Zo of which will end up costing us a CRAPload (sigh). In the meantime, I’ve reached out to Terry (KRNFX) to open for DFD and Zo and wrote out the Facebook event…

It’s been a BITCH to deliver, but well worth the stress. It also taught me that I will NEVER take event-planning lightly EVER again. I may be efficient at it, but doing PR-related work is seriously a burden that I wouldn’t even pick over something like research. At least this has been an eye-opening of an experience for me.

Last year, I was secretly full of skepticism about myself. The ideas I had, the goals I wanted and the people I lost were weighing my faith with colossal doubt. But with this event as solid proof in addition to the abundance of prayer, I won’t let myself become bogged down by all the people and things that would be better off rolling into a pile of feces.

Otherwise, I’m actually a little excited to start studying in January for the second half of the semester. Since this first term produced quite satisfactory marks, I feel more encouraged to finish this year with an acceptable GPA and take the year off to prep for my grad/law school apps. Turns out these LSAT questions are pretty reminiscent of the problems I had to solve in Professor Layton and Phoenix Wright, bwahaha. What an irony… Can’t believe they’ve actually helped me out despite losing so much sleep and health over the summer; not to mention I cried my eyes out at each of the game’s endings, augh. It’s because of these games that I became a recluse at home and played them for 32 hours over the span of four days…

Dumbfoundead once hilariously elicited an outrage on Twitter in which a shitload of adolescents rankled him for his comment about their tastes in music. My friends and I couldn’t help but deeply sympathize; the media’s saturated mainstream music with redundant, trashy dance tracks released from the likes of Pitbull and anyone else whom I don’t care to recall. By having clusters of 15 to 17-year-old fanatics harass your Twitter after you criticize Kpop girl groups who possess less talent than brains (which is grossly saying something), then there’s truly a tragic problem for humankind itself: We listen to shitty music.

Back in the late 90′s and early 2000′s, hip hop emerged as a dominating genre that drew in multitudes of fans with positive remarks from its critics. Whom do we thank? Most of us can agree that two individuals greatly contributed to this outcome – not Bieber, not friggin Khalifa – we all hail Kanye and Jay-Z.

In August, I bought two tickets with my bro/best bud, Josh, and we eagerly awaited the day when the two would perform live in Toronto. November 23rd came, we saw and they f*cking conquered.

Contrary to what everyone assumed, Hov and ‘Ye performed just roughly six songs from Watch the Throne and the rest of the concert play-list consisted of all their massive hits in the past. I’m talking about Gold Digger, Touch the Sky, Where I’m From, Can’t Tell me Nothing, Diamonds from Sierra Leone, Dirt Off Your Shoulder, Big Pimpin’, Public Service Announcement, Jesus Walks, Run this Town, Onto the Next One, Hard Knock Life, 99 Problems, Runaway, Monster, Power, All of the Lights, Izzo (HOVA), Flashing Lights, Heartless, and there’s too many to list…

Glimpsing around at the audience during Jay’s solo performances, I was in awe of the endless, vast sea of fans throwing up Hov’s sign together whilst illuminated under a gorgeous wash of colour and lighting, rendering it as a nearly alien experience. The acts were on-point and I almost believed that they were lip-synching the entire night; they sounded IDENTICAL to their mastered tracks as they never broke off from their rhythm or cue. Kanye delivered his old bangers with flashy precision, which is what we’ve come to expect from the gentleman of grandeur himself. As his perfect complement using simple effects, Jay-Z followed his own classy, ghetto-fab routine that exemplified his Brooklyn roots.

The duo traded off solo acts back and forth for a total of three hours, encouraging the crowd into a hollering frenzy. True, one might gripe that they started the show ridiculously late sans a special guest appearance no less, but once they began rising on the LED-lit platforms, everyone lost their minds and went apeshit.  Everything meshed together in an epic, conglomerate show that any hip hop artist would kill to emulate. Only these self-proclaimed hip hop gurus could afford playing “N*ggas in Paris” three times consecutively amidst the screams from fans for an encore performance. And they did just that, ending off the night with Jay-Z’s celebrated track that signified his pseudo-retirement, “Encore”.

For anyone that expressed disdain in attending and said that they disliked Watch The Throne anyway, y’all missed out on one of the most charismatic concerts hosted in Toronto. Kanye hasn’t booked a show here since 2004 – and seven years later, he’s still pwning it as though he never left.

There was one song he performed called “Runaway”, which happens to be one of my absolute favourites from his MBDTF album. I hold the track as a personal tribute to all of my ex-boyfriends. Hearing Kanye perform it live with so much vigor had me belting out the chorus as though it were the last song of the night. My best friend understood my sentiment and screamed out the words beside me.

Now that I glance back at all these months, I’m actually content to say that I’ve come a damn long way. My integrity, family, spiritual walk with God, school, grad apps/plans, friends, and my current gigantic KCUTSA project that I’m solely organizing alongside Ben is all piecing itself together in an awesome montage of steady, hard work. Thought I’d never see the day at UofT when I’d be proud of the marks that I’ve been attaining  in my final year, lol. As a result, I’ve (secretly and finally) decided to pursue law school once I complete my Masters/Teacher’s College program. After Isagani’s death and all the drama accumulating from last year, I feel relieved to have soldiered onward – deuces.

My 22nd birthday is fast approaching as well. December also holds sentimental value to me, but EFF IT, I’ll enjoy it as I’ve always had for all my life. Looking forward to playing my video games for hours on end, woo!

Moving on, there’s been an onslaught of updates in the world of all things geeky, namely one particular video game that I’ve been hooked on recently: Batman’s Arkham City. I gushed about it enough to my friend on Twitter already (probably much to everyone’s annoyance), but it would do Rocksteady an injustice to not mention their noble tribute to the comic franchise. They’ve honorably portrayed Batman as a brooding, heroic menace sentenced to purge a decadently corrupted city such as Arkham itself. I daresay the game takes an even bolder and darker approach than its widely acclaimed film complement, The Dark Knight (*shots fired*).

The open-world setting becomes the defining feature of the game as you’re immersed in a dreary atmosphere so palpable that you feel like you’re exploring the city as friggin Batman himself. I like that despite how riveting the storyline is in the game, the player is given a generous amount of leeway to decide whether incapacitating dirty thugs, solving mysterious murders, or playing fun side-missions take first priority. Better yet, the game manages to keep the player focused by having the henchmen’s conversations serve as an auditory backdrop that consistently refers to the main plot. It actually doesn’t become intrusive, instead making the game-play more organic. You can even utilize your Bat-tech device to determine the location of these same goons speaking and proceed to kick their asses if you’re in the mood for it.

The voice-acting has also been done superbly well, especially since Rocksteady convinced a renowned voice-actor to partake in their project; Kevin Conroy is known to be the primary staple of every Batman animated series. His popularity is on par with Peter Cullen, the legend among geeks that voiced Optimus Prime in every TV show. He was even highly sought out by the Transformers’ directors and consequently signed onto the trilogy to reprise his usual role as the Autobot leader. That’s how bawss this guy is and Kevin Conroy is arguably his equivalent for Batman.

Funny how I’m already writing a fervent review for the game despite not having even completed it, let alone owning the game – YET. I plan on purchasing the PC version soon whilst still fresh from its release date just last week. Sadly, I never had the time to play Arkham Asylum either so I’ve been hogging my friend’s PS3 for the time being.

Now, I shall leave this post with one more track leaked from Drake’s Take Care. This track’s one of my faves:

Just to top it off with Katy Perry’s “The One That Got Away”, which had an uber sad music video. Do I draw parallels to this song? Sometimes. In retrospect, I think we’re both the ones who got away from each other. It’s bearable.

“I like a woman with a future and a past, a lil’ attitude problem all good, it’ll make shit last.”

In the past, I’ve admittedly criticized Drake for recycling his lyrics with redundant topics of sex and cash. But with a few singles leaked from his impending Take Care album like the one posted, I’m still excited to hear what he and the Weeknd have concocted over the past year. Given the Weeknd’s repertoire of dark, haunting R&B tunes, along with the nostalgic meaning behind the album’s title, it’s bound to be slated as the emo anthem for singles late at night, pumping glasses of champagne till they forget who they drunkenly ravaged in bed later. His verses have become increasingly honest and I appreciate how he values the intelligence, education and healthy lifestyle of a woman as depicted in “Make Me Proud”. I dig you, Drizzy, I really do.

Reading his recent interview with Elle Magazine was also a surprising glimpse into his life. His answers were wonderfully raw and sincere, which any other Young Money rapper wouldn’t be caught dead speaking with such sensitivity. Peep the following snippet below:

_____

ELLE:  Let’s start with “Marvin’s Room.” Four women in a week? Yes, please explain.
DRAKE:  I used to be filling a void. There was a point where I felt like I needed to keep the company of a woman every night.

ELLE:  The same woman?
D:  Uh, different women.

ELLE:  You don’t have to apologize.
D:  Yeah, at the same time, I do. Because one day I’m going to want to meet a woman that doesn’t have such a tainted past. It’s like, Well, how can I expect the woman I love to have such a clean record?

ELLE:  Are you lonely?
D:  When you’re on the road and moving city to city, when someone isn’t there at the end of the night, you feel empty. The 15 or 20 seconds after a man reaches his climax is the realest moment he’ll ever have in his life. And if you happen to be with somebody that isn’t someone you want to converse with, you start feeling like, I wish I was just here watching True Blood by myself.

ELLE:  When you were a kid, your father—who’d been incarcerated—would drive you all the way from Toronto to Memphis to spend time with his family. What did you learn about women from him?
D:  What not to do. Ways that I never want to make a woman feel. I was there when my mom used to be upset or cry because of the things my father would do. In a rare moment of self-realization, my dad confirmed that I should treat women better. My dad has a lot of gifts. He’s charming and was a sharp dresser, big on atmosphere and candles. I learned a lot from him about being a romantic.

ELLE:  Has a woman ever hurt you?
D:  I’ve probably been hurt more than I’ve hurt someone else. It’s a different world, with the microscope of the Internet.

ELLE:  What makes it so hard?
D:  To get women to trust you. When you have a woman in your life and you’re telling her, “I’m in New York working on my album,” and you’re actually in New York working on your album, but they’re saying you’re in the Bahamas with so-and-so, it’s hard for her to believe. I’ve had women lash out based off the fact that they think I’m lying when I’m not.

ELLE:  “Fireworks” was about being Rihanna’s rebound guy, right?
D:  Not necessarily the rebound guy.

ELLE:  Did she hurt you?
D:  At the time it hurt, but she didn’t mean to. I’ll never put that on her. I was hurt because I started to slowly realize what it was. I guess I thought it was more. That was the first girl with any fame that paid me any mind. You spend days reading about this person in the magazines. All of a sudden you have this number-one song and you’re at some birthday party and there she is. And you’re just some naive kid from Toronto staying in some shitty-ass hotel who got invited to this party on a whim. That’s just how it happened.

_____

Spoken eloquently and honestly like a true gentleman in an industry of debauchery.

But I THINK we’ve found someone legitimate: A 20-year-old Korean American girl named Ailee, who hails from New Jersey and was recently signed to an agency owned by Kpop’s veteran R&B mogul, Wheesung. He was also once registered under YG Entertainment during the peak of his  career. Employing his affiliations with several entertainment gurus in the States, Ailee can use Korea’s resources to merge into the perilously fickle U.S. industry, giving Asians another hope  that ‘one of us’ could make it.

It’s true that Ailee’s voice isn’t extremely distinctive as Rihanna or Adele’s tone, which is another factor that generates much attention, but her pitch and range is still incredible. Girl has SOUL oozing from her aura – and this is something that Korea flagrantly lacks, especially for female KPop “artists” who have the singing capacity of a doped-up gerbil. Here, you can see it for yourself what I mean regarding Ailee’s potential to go far:

What was really neat about Def Jam Poetry is that they exposed a number of budding spoken word artists, entertainers, R&B and hip hop stars that would later shape the scope of our auditory world. Some of Kanye West’s brilliant verses made their way to his Late Registration album, i.e. Gold Digger.

Here are a few of the better known performances from Def Jam Poetry:

Shihan – Flashy Words

“…And when I opened my eyes, I found myself standing before a mirror,
staring into the eyes of an invisible man until my pupils
became pupils and I can teach myself to live a better life.
Words…  Words.
From a piece of mind brings peace of mind, all I gotta do is give a piece of mind?
Only the words piece together the pieces in me
To create a peace within me.
But shit, they are all pieces.
Pieces to a puzzle when which put together is me.
So let me tell you something:
Don’t ever do anything you’re not supposed to
And only speak when spoken to
And don’t speak unless you mean.
‘Cause a good man is hard to find
And a hard man is good to find.”

Rafael Casal – First Week of Breakup

Shihan – This Type of Love

This was hilariously adorable. Shihan’s the king of spoken word for a reason.

Just for funny kicks: Jamie Foxx - Off the Hizzle for Shizzle

Dave Chappelle has performed on DFP with his own “poems” as well – love them, haha.

Anyway, I’ll end this post abruptly with a final video. Parts of the song kill me every time, but I’m still thriving – particularly today of all days.

Happy thanksgiving. Seriously.

Ever since watching the Office four years ago, I’ve become grossly smitten with his character, Jim Halpert. Right now, I sense an onslaught of squeals and ten more paragraphs bursting to describe Jim’s insane cutiepie-ness – but I’ll refrain from it…

Further to my delight, John carries himself in the same impeccably adorable manner very much similar to every role he plays on screen. Take note of his interview with Jimmy Kimmel, who is literally his across-the-door neighbor, when the latter presented the audience pictures of John’s innocent prank on him while he was away. D’aaaw, he still pulls pranks! Teehee.

Although his chemistry with Pam on the show is a rare gem barely spotted in real life, I still think he and Karen (Rashida Jones) had been perfect as well. In fact, despite already having dated Rashida outside the camera, I was hoping they’d have ended up tying the knot – but alas, Emily’s the lucky son of a…

Ahem. I’ll end it off here with a barrage of pictures highlighting John’s best features: his goofy expressions and heart-combustion smiles.

Oh wowza… one look from him like this and I’d do unspeakable things in a heartbeat.

Had to post this up because I loved her character as Karen and Rashida’s simply adorbs.

My next anime/manga addiction: Black Butler.

I was harbouring doubts when I first read the manga many months ago. After the few initial chapters became a tedious read, I was led to believe that the story-line would contain the usual fluff that most mangas are notoriously irritating for: the dashing male lead, probably too good to be true, and possible yaoi between him and the other male protagonist (a 12-year-old jail-bait). However, I found out via the internet that the Black Butler was serialized by the one and only, ever reputable Square Enix, so I was obliged to read a more descriptive synopsis of the series.

And am I EVER glad. *dougies*

Granted that the beginning was a drag, but there’s thankfully a dark twist to the butler and the entire Phantomhive household itself, which necessitated a thorough perusal of each volume. I’m now caught up on the manga and have gleefully proceeded to watch the anime.

The storyline is original with copious amounts of thrilling, gory action illuminated by a deeply haunting music score – still, there continues to be enough room for several comedic moments from its engaging characters. Not to mention it’s also a gorgeous visual display of animation with the clothes and settings drawn exquisitely.

Although the main protagonist, (Earl) Ciel Phantomhive, carries the stereotypical disposition of an emo-looking, haughty brat, the relationship he has with the butler, Sebastian Michaelis, is nothing short of fascinating. Under his guise as a eerily charming butler, Sebastian is a formidable demon with a selective taste for powerful souls. Ciel, having been left alone from his parents’ brutal murders, prompts Sebastian to sign a contract sealed by a sacrifice of his own, enforcing the demon to serve him until his vendetta is achieved. In exchange, Sebastian is permitted to kill Ciel and consume his soul.

This effectively shrouds the audience in the dark regarding both the characters’ true feelings, making Sebastian’s charms a dangerous trait. He is an elusive darkness, disturbingly flawless and beautiful, clipped to Ciel’s conscious and soul. Despite the show already exploring their love/hate complexity from the get-go, it becomes even more intriguing to note whether their twisted, dynamic relationship is simply one out of ‘good business’. Perhaps it is something more, nothing less, or possibly another thing entirely sinister. In other words, it’s a show you HAVE to watch to discover the truth.

Move out the way, Tuxedo Mask, cus Sebastian Michaelis is the shit.

I know I’m super late, but I haven’t had time to touch ANY games for a few years until this very summer. By sacrificing my sleep and health, I’ve completed ten RPG’s so far and have BAWLED my eyes out for three of them: one being the last sequel to Phoenix Wright and the other two belonging to the Professor Layton series.

Because I was afflicted with my PMS while playing “Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box”, it was inevitable for me to weep like a sobbing fanatic at its conclusion. To be honest, it wasn’t even THAT touching, but it goes to show how lethal my PMS is like… TMI? Whatevs.

As for “Professor Layton and the Unwound of Future”, that was freakin’ distressful to play. The first two games don’t involve Layton directly, but this last sequel finally delved into the tragic mysteries of his past, which ensued a shitload of tears as one has already connected to the characters from the previous games. It makes you wonder WHY a gentleman like him has to deserve this crap. Reading the Youtube comments for the ending’s cinematic portion in the video reassured me that I wasn’t the only one who wept hysterically. Then again, I’m just a glutton for sad shit since I watched it for a second time.

Admittedly, the English dubbing for the game was EXCELLENTE (French sp? Whatevs.) I wouldn’t have sobbed so hard if the voice acting were horrid, but it added a vivid effect to the final, sad truth to Layton’s life. *SNIFF* Just thinking about the ending hurts my heart. No, it’s not the PMS.

On the other hand, I’m elated to hear that Level 5 has slotted three more games for the series (WOOT, the “Last Spectre” is coming out next month), where the sixth title has yet to be disclosed to the public. Furthermore, they will release three movies altogether including a joint game project with Phoenix Wright from Capcom. Needless to say, it BETTER make its way to North American shelves or I will import the damn game myself.