As the Pinoys Do #WhatsupWednesday

The Philippines is actually also known (if not more known) for its beautiful natural resources, particularly the 7,100-plus islands. It’s not all about Philippine politics, calamities, and tragedies. Oh, but many do know that already.

I’m not going to talk about islands for now, however. I just thought that would get your attention, ha ha. Rather, I’d like to share stuff regarding the country’s other best-known assets–the people. In fact, I’ve talked about it in The Great Philippine Experience:

“…many tourists seem to come back again and again…When it comes to the Philippines, it is not merely the sceneries and the wonders that attract tourists. More than these, it is the people and their rich culture that makes the Philippines a much-loved travel destination.”

Even Nuseir Yassin, a.k.a. Nas gave big credit to the Filipino people in  8 Days in the Philippines. (See The PH)

But why just take our word for it? The better idea is to take these foreign missionaries’ words for it! They have stayed in the country for a long enough time to appreciate its people. Some have even enjoyed a certain level of fame, having somewhat become celebrities, for instance, the boys of the Hey Joe Show, “a multi-platform social media group dedicated to celebrating and exposing Filipino culture to a global audience”. They can tell you what to expect when you’re in the Philippines.

FILIPINO CULTURE

It’s various interview clips, so it’s long, but you can always skip some of them. Personally, listening to them made me realize more things and made me proud to be Filipino, despite all the negatives. I was smiling almost from start to end, even laughing sometimes. First guy here is Connor Peck from the show I mentioned.

FUNNY THINGS FILIPINOS DO (by Sumner Mahaffey of the Hey Joe Show, and he also joined I Love OPM, singing competition for 100% non-Filipinos singing local songs)

Some of the things Sumner says here are not mentioned in the previous video.

There are more things to explain how the Filipino is. Will share more in future posts.

Meanwhile, just like in any other country, one of the most important things when you visit is to learn the language. It is very important, though often neglected. But if you’re staying for a long while, it is advised that you learn the language. Speak, as the Pinoys do.

This is what Fil-American Wil Dasovich did when he came to stay in his mother’s native country. Wil is a popular vlogger (or YouTuber, if you may) known for talking a lot in the Filipino dialect called Tagalog.

But what sticks to most Pinoys’ minds is not only his American accent, but his weird Tagalog combos–he just simultaneously speaks in deep Tagalog, Taglish (Tagalog-English), sometimes hippie lingo, often beki (gay) speak without batting an eyelash. He explains why in the video below (I contributed the translation of the Filipino words, so from 0:09, those words were from me, simply enable captions). Nevertheless, I still encourage any foreigner or half-foreigner who wants to stay here for years to do what Wil did.

 

Yo, Man! Imma Show Ya Rap Battles! (post-)#WhatsupWednesday

Today, I introduce you to #WhatsupWednesday (don’t mind that it’s late). I could call it #WhateverWednesday, but I don’t think I like the sound of that. It’s like your mom telling you something and you roll your eyes and mutter, “Whatev”. Nope, I’m not comfortable with that. “What’s up” sounds friendlier in contrast. So for this alternate hash potato, I’m sharing various stuff that have caught my interest, but are not that applicable for my other hash potatoes.

Now that that’s explained…

I’ve just recently realized that I’m actually a YouTube-freak. I go through the site searching for vids of songs, musicals, funny talk shows, pranks (zombie vids!!!),…Not anymore cute animal vids, though, as I get that a lot from Facebook already. Anyway, these searches have brought me interesting stuff and because I grew up in the “rap of ages”, you ken betcha momma’s *bleep* I got a heckuva kuhlecshun here! *wink, wink* Okay, before you proceed,

WARNING: STRONG LANGUAGE AND SEXUAL CONTENT. NOT FOR KIDS!

Thought I’d give you that. Now, do tell me who you think won in these vids.

First, I found Anne Hathaway rapping against James Corden of Carpool Karaoke fame (he’s famous for his show and whatev, but I never really knew about him except when I happened to search for “Carpool Karaoke”, which I did hear about). I’m not going to share CK vids as it’s so popular, you’ve probably already seen them all. I did like the ones with Adele and Sia, even the one with One Direction because of the collab kind of thing. Gotta watch more, maybe. I do give credit to James, he’s got some musical talent in him.

Here are the two doing rap battle at Corden’s late show’s Drop the Mic segment.

I think that she did “Hatha-slay” him! Yo, Anne, you rock!!! I mean, rap!!!

I’m not seeing that many DTM vids, but I enjoyed this one with Kevin Hart, though he’s an actor I’m  just a tad familiar with (did see his movie with The Rock while on a bus).

Sorry, James, I think that’s two times in a row your bottom got whipped! *trying a cleaner language here 😉 *

Meanwhile…! I found these ones below just yesterday. It’s great that they actually take effort to take care of the settings and stuff when they could just do a kind of DTM thing.

Enjoyed most of them, but a couple didn’t quite make it to my list. The Gandalf vs Dumbledore one made me squee in glee at first only to have my bubble burst–yeah, it wasn’t as good as I expected it would be (so click at your own risk). Mostly sexual references and nothing substantial enough. I liked the Albert Einstein vs Stephen Hawking vid as well, but I don’t like making fun of the differently abled. I’m not even going to attempt to link to it. You do it. There’s also one with the Eastern Philosophers vs Western Philosophers, but I respect our Eastern Philosophers so, up to you to check also.

Now, for the battles.

I found that I liked the Princess Rap Battles more, so I’m showing them first. The guys’ vids have some sick verses as well, though, and the beats, awesome.

It seems that Daenerys won here in the end, but rap-content wise, I think it’s a tie.

It’s a tie, too! Don’t you think?

Oh, Galadriel won this one, hands down. Leia never had an iota of a chance to win against the great elf.

Now, the boys doing Epic Rap Battles of History. The girls are princesses and the guys get to be intelligent, geeky ones…Although, there is that Superman vs Goku vid, so I guess it kinda even things out.

Sorry, GoT fans, but LOTR nailed this battle. I don’t understand the reference to Led Zeppelin, though. [UPDATE: That last statement is quite the proof that I am not a Led Zep fan, LOL!!! Just found this that should explain the reference: Led Zeppelin and Lord of The Rings – Rockers and Tolkien Fans.]

Nobody won. Well, maybe the third one in this battle (being not-so-quite techie still, I have no idea “who” that was). Or was that also supposed to be “Steve“? And, boy, too much of an angry Bill here.

It’s true: Jack was a real serial killer who never got caught; Hannibal was fictional and did get caught (or he would not have met Clarisse). That said, Hannibal killed Jack  *he he, get it? killed?..uh, okay…*

I…honestly don’t know who won…

Here are some more that I liked (in random order), if you’re interested:

1. Ash Ketchum vs Charles Darwin (Picachu was no match to Darwin’s ape, methinks)
2. Snow White vs Elsa (oh, yeah, the princess was no match for the queen! It wasn’t really a fair match. Just let it go, Snow White, dear)
3. Miley Cyrus vs Joan of Arc (don’t even know the connection between them, but anyway, Joan just slayed Hannah Montana)

So the people behind these vids are asking viewers who they’d like to see do rap battles. I already gave these ideas:

1. boyband vs. boyband

2. Walking Dead vs. World War Z vs. Zombieland (whichever they can “pair” up), OR Rick Grimes vs. Gerry Lane vs. Tallahassee

3. Bones vs. CSI

4. Elementary vs. Sherlock (two Sherlocks, yay!!!)

5. Johnny English vs Austin Powers

6. Charlie Chaplin vs Mr. Bean (I wonder how they’re gonna do this unless they act it all out as they talk gibberish with subtitles below, he he)

7. Wayne & Garth (Wayne’s World) vs Bill & Ted (Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey) vs Jay & Silent Bob (View Askewniverse)

8. Cats The Musical vs Lion King The Musical (it would be awesome to see how they’ll do the costumes!)

9. Elphaba (Wicked) vs Fiona (Shrek)

I’ve been thinking of more, like Xena maybe rap-battling it out with…Wonder Woman? Not sure if there’s anyone else more appropriate for the Warrior Princess. Maybe, I could also suggest James Corden vs Jimmy Fallon. I mean, people are already comparing them anyway: they sing and they have famous “Justin” buds (Bieber vs Timberlake, respectively). How about Edward Cullen vs Louis de Pointe du Lac, or simply Louis of Interview with the Vampire.

We’ll see.

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Hope you enjoyed the vids. If you’re a minor, I hope you didn’t. Who would you like to see doing a rap battle, guys? Suggest some below if you can’t make a comment over at YouTube 🙂