I Love You Too by Usher

For my son: 

I Love You Too by Usher

my first time i cried
you were incredible, took my breath away
i remember first time your eyes met mine
i saw a lot of me in you
that day i vowed to do my best
to try and teach you right when you're wrong
but you gotta live out your lessons
time makes it all right
watch you grow, you think you know
but i know better cos i been there, seen that, did it
how you think you got it

my gift for life is seeing the smile on your face
that's when all of my troubles melt away
holding you in my arms makes the world feel like a better place
you say i love you, well i say that i love you too
i love you, i love you, you too i do

my second time around
man this is crazy incredible
to feel something like this again is so remarkable
big bright eyes, little lips, with daddy's attitude
so i know the biggest job ahead of me
is doing my best
to try and teach you right when you're wrong
but you gotta live out your lessons
time makes it all right
watch you grow, you think you know
i know better cos i been there, seen that, did it
how you think you got it

my gift for life is seeing the smile on your face
that's when all of my troubles melt away
holding you in my arms makes the world feel like a better place
you say i love you, well i say that i love you too

life ain't a perfect story write it while you live it
(?) know that joy's gonna kill it
and no matter what you're still together
ha listen you're gonna fight but work it out
(?)

my gift for life is seeing the smile on your face
that's when all of my troubles melt away
holding you in my arms makes the world feel like a better place
you know i love you
my gift for life is seeing the smile on your face
that's when all of my troubles melt away
holding you in my arms makes the world feel like a better place
you say i love you, and i say that i love you too
i love you, i love you, love you too
love you more, love you too

My baby boy turns 1!

It is so awesome and so amazing for me to see that my baby boy has been with us for the past year. We have seen him grow up in a way that no other parent has and yet, at the same time, not seen him grow up like any other parent has. 

He has spent half of the year with relatives on his mother's side as my wife and I had had difficulty finding a good caretaker for him. So we had to leave him there for most of the week since we had to work. But there were days in which he would be us and we would laugh and smile and worry and frown and cry over every little yawn, smile, grunt, or cry that he would make. Each movement he made would make us jump in the middle of the night (or morning) just to see if he was ok or if he needed anything. Giving him baths, feeding him, changing his diapers (and sometimes getting peed on), comforting him each time he would cry were some of the real joys that I have experienced as his father, precious moments that I would never ever give up even if it meant waiting a couple of hours before I can have a meal (or sometimes not finishing one), running up and down the stairs just to get his milk or his bib, staying up late to clean his bottles or only having less than a few hours of sleep. My only regret is that I didn't get to do this often enough as unfortunately, there were a few tolls on my body as I did get sick a few times during the year, more out of exhaustion, than anything else. 

This year was probably some of the hardest and most challenging months that I have ever experienced but they were some of the happiest that I have ever experienced. Everytime we had to leave behind, I would tear up or if I hear or see anything that reminds of him, I'd have to step out for awhile coz I would find himself about to cry. Strange for a guy to act this way huh? But yeah, I just want to be with him all the time. Unfortunately, the world gets in the way (plus our own innate need to survive). 

I missed a few crucial things in his growth: his first tooth, his first time to crawl, his first solid food but I saw his first smile, I heard him call me papa for the first time. I was the first one to see him in the nursery and I got to choose what he got to wear when he first came out of the hospital. He is such a great boy and I am just so so proud of him. 

As he turns 1 year old in a few hours, I just wanna shout out to the world that I love you my son. If there is anything else that you need to know about your father, know this: that I would give anything and everything to see you grow up to be the man that God meant you to be. That I consider you His greatest blessing and the best gift he has ever given. 

Happy birthday Neil! God bless you with many more birthdays to come!

Birthday party preparations

2 week hiatus.

Been busy over the past few days preparing for my son’s birthday and both my wife and I are very excited with how it will turn out. We have arranged to go with a Justice League theme for his 1^st birthday, complete with party hats, capes, cake, pinada and a candy buffet. We also arranged for our guest’s kids to come in costume and we added a small prize just to encourage them to do so.

The wife is really stoked about it as she has been the primary driver to make this happen. We even have our own costumes to boot. Well, I get a cape and cowl and she has her red top and blue pants to go with (I think it’s pretty obvious who we will be dressing up as J ). The logistics are still a work in progress and since we’ll have our relatives over the house for the weekend, we’re also busy cleaning out the house so this week should also be pretty busy both in and out of work for us.

Will post more updates as I get free time within the week. J

It's been a good start...

…so far for The Red Comet’s Playground. While I am still in the process of uploading the galleries here in the blog, I have managed to completed 3 albums just in the past week: Fun Shoots for 2014, LEGO KO and My first Kaiju: Gamora. I actually shot more toy photos this week than I have the past year and it feels great and fulfilling.

I am a bit rusty however and really need to shoot a lot more if I not only want to get back to my former groove but to also find ways to level up some in terms of my photography skills. Plus I am beginning to feel my camera and laptop’s age (got them both in 2009) so, in my view, a lot of my time is spent post-processing: correcting shot exposures, managing noise, adjusting levels, incorrect foci and the like. Most photographers would probably say that this is just part of daily grind when it comes to the hobby, I feel that better equipment would also help in minimizing these things. Don’t get me wrong. I am a strong proponent of the saying, “it’s not the bow and arrow, but the shooter that decides the game” (or something to that effect) but if the bow and arrow are worn, the hunter should up his game but I digress...

As I was saying, I am particularly pleased with myself just to be able to make time for these shoots. I have been very busy over the past year taking care of my family (married to an amazing woman and have an awesome son) that it feels good to do something that is uniquely mine for once. I have spoken to my wife about getting back into the hobby but have never really gotten around to it till now.

Hahahaha! I’m raving, I know. 

Lego...or not.

Quite recently, I have been (re)introduced to the LEGO superhero figures while I was in Tagaytay on vacation last December celebrating my 1st year wedding anniversary. Now these figures normally come inside LEGO playsets which are, in my opinion, bastardly expensive here in the Philippines. 

For the most part, I have not collected much American superhero based toys since I let go of my Hasbro Iron Man 7" movie series last 2008 (except for the SH Figuarts Iron Man and War Machine and the new Hasbro TMNT figures). As my wife and I were roaming around People's Park, I just chanced on some knock off boxes depicting LEGO figures of Superman, Batman, Spider-man and most of the movie Avengers. Just out of sheer curiosity, I decided to buy a couple at a then reasonable price of 100 pesos each. (Lo and behold, I would discover that they were only 50 pesos a figure back in Manila...LMAO). 

I was impressed by how accurate these knock offs were to the originals so I decided to buy a couple more when I got back in Manila: 

By "a couple," I ended up buying several of these figures for both the Superman and Batman lines. There are basically two brands that I have been getting: Sheng Yuan and Decool. 

Both versions come with the essential head, torso and leg parts. They all come with its designated helmet or hairpiece; depending on the figure, cloth cape, stand, and a few accessories. 

Now, the Sheng Yuan versions have larger stands with their logo on them and their figures have the back of the feet where the calves should be sliced off; probably so can just slide them easily through your usual block pegs. While it does make easier in attaching the figures to other blocks, it's a pretty loose fit and doesn't really help keep the figure attached to the block. Lastly, i found the accessories included for the Batman figures, a gun, so inappropriate for the figure. They could've at least put in a Batarang instead since c'mon, everyone knows Batman doesn't use guns! I did like the Kryptonite accessories for Supes and the long rifle for Joker. The spiked club doesn't work for me as well as they could've given Joker a mallet instead which would be more appropriate for me. 

The Decool version is the more LEGO accurate sculpt with no calf cut like the Sheng Yuan version. The stands that they come with is just a black block with no markings. They do come with two expressions for each face so you have a gritty Batman on one side and a smirking one in the next. The Man of Steel Supes and Zod have your stoic face and angry, heat vision faces and so on which I think is a big plus for this brand. Also, accessories here are much more accurate for the Bats figs with a Batarang for Batman, handcuffs for Robin and green thingies for movie Green Lantern. No accessories though for Superman which is a bit of a bummer. 

While I do not encourage people to buy knock offs, I have to say that these ones are a good alternative to buying overly expensive LEGO playsets/figures that you have on sale in malls. Since I just want the characters and not the cars and buildings and what-not on it, this works for me plus since I am working on a smaller budget now for toys, these little guys fit the bill to satisfy my LEGO/hero fix. ;)

First figure shoot for 2014: Asuna Yuki from SAO

Sword Art Online has got to be one of my favorite anime's ever. The whole story of a virtual world where what you do reflects in reality is just an awesome concept for me. And I found the stories of the main characters, Kirito and Asuna, equally compelling as well. Too bad they didn't push through with a third season so we're kinda left with half a story once you complete watching all 25 episodes. Regardless, it's still a fun watch. 

Thanks to our good friends from Max Factory, one can now have both Kirito and Asuna in the palm of our hands through their Figma figure line . Unfortunately, I have not been able to score a Figma Kirito coz of a few bad decisions while in Singapore and the lack of a decently priced one here in Manila. Luckily, I do have Figma Asuna and she is an awesome figure to boot. 

Up here is a shot of her in what I call "The Fall of Aincrad." Been wanting to take a decent photo of her for a few months now but with family and work taking most of my time, I actually had to sacrifice sleep just to be able to take this photo and write this blog. Hehe. 

I have a few gripes here and there about the figure, such as the lack of more expressions on her face, as well as her hairlocks in front could have been set in a different direction via other hair accessories, etc but overall I love this figure. It's so cute and freakin' awesome at the same time. For those familiar with the figure, her E-Honda style 100 sword slash effect is also there but I was too lazy to take it out of the box for this shoot. Maybe next time. I did only have a few hours to do the shoot, you know. 

Sorry about the rant-ish, non-sense writing for my second post. It's 3AM in the morning and I am starting to feel woozy already. I will write a proper blog in the future... I promise. 

In the meantime, here are a few more shots I took of this awesome figure. Ciao! 

An all new TRCP for 2014!

With the new year just barely getting started, we now have an all new playground to...well, play in, of course. It's been a few years since I last made a blog post and it feels strangely new yet familiar at the same time.

To newcomers, my blog was/is called The Red Comet's Playground. It was originally put up on Multiply.com. For anyone whose been into the internet over the past 5 years, Multiply.com went from a blogging site to a marketing site to a virtually non-existent site. With the growing popularity of Facebook since 2006, I practically shifted all my stuff there from 2007 onwards, methinks.

Anyway, I have been wanting to bring back this blog and I think that 2014 is the year to do it. This site will be purely dedicated to the pure random bouts of insanity that shoots through my brain from time to time with a little action figure action every now and then.

So here's a little SH Figuarts Kamen Rider Black (Renewal version) to kickstart a new year and a new home. Welcome back to The Red Comet's Playground! :)