Exactly two years ago from today, I opened eLBi, the UPLB Forums. It was a product of idle time, internet curiosity, grand aspirations, and nostalgia for my college years. And oh yeah, I got tired of the egos I constantly encountered within my former online hangout. And I was too lazy to join other similar online communities. Yeah sure, there probably is another intelligent online community out there that interests me, but sadly, I was too lazy to search for it. I built one instead.

I wanted to discuss the most intricately serious topics and the most trivial non-issues with people who I’m comfortable with, whether I’ve already met them in person or not. “But that’s nearly bloody impossible, Baddie! LOL” you say. Yeah, nearly. In UPLB, we’ve always manifested the sense of a community of strangers from distant towns and cities. People call UPLB a “microcosm of the Philippines”. A melting pot of the country’s brightest minds isolated from the rest of the so-called civilized nation. Strangers, yet a tightly knit community. If I’m going to build an online community, it might as well be made up of people from UPLB. And within a span of a year, the community matured, and ideas for bigger things grew with it. Bigger things like our own domain and more ways to showcase the talent and brilliance of the scholars doing scholarly stuff at the foot of Mt. Makiling.

Exactly a year ago, we launched yUPieLBi, the UPLB Online Community website. Notice I said “we” instead of “I”. That’s because it was born from the minds of the community members themselves. A machine of passion, a representation of pride, and as cheesy as it may sound, a labor of love. In its first year, the site have had members come and go. Problems were encountered, obstacles were surpassed, technical difficulties were resolved, debates were started, relationships matured, friendships were forged, our community blog was launched, minds were challenged, hungry souls were fed, broken hearts were healed, and healthy hearts were broken. The mush can go on, but I guess all I really want to say is I’m proud to have started a community that is still growing after two years of existence, and a website that is still well and alive and aiming to move forward after a year of wondering which direction to go.

Happy anniversary, yUPieLBi! I may be far from concieving my first child with my really hot future wife, but I think I now have a very good idea of how it will feel to celebrate my child’s first birthday.

To the yUPieLBi community members, thank you for the support and for putting up with an asshole head administrator. I promise to thank you again in 2008 after you put up with me for another year.

To start off Year 2 of our dear online community, I’m inviting all UPLB students, teachers, dropouts (nobody gets left behind!), and alumni to visit the yUPieLBi booth in the upcoming Feb Fair. The fair will be on February 12-16. Get a chance to see who’s hot and who’s not among the eLBizens you flirt with in the forums. Also, get the chance to see the faces of the moderators who keep reminding you not to use txt lingo. We’ll be selling the new yUPieLBi shirt at the booth. Be sure to bring Php500. Php140 will be for the shirt, the rest will be your donation for the booze. A liquor ban will be strictly enforced, but fuck it, let’s get wasted!

On that note, time for my comics haul for this week:

52 #39: Look! Up in the sky! It’s a bald eagle! It’s a luxury jet! No, it’s Super Lex! The most dangerous villain in the DC Universe (well, at least in my POV) just got a whole lot dangerouser! After months of being told that he’s not compatible with the Everyman procedure, which gives normal people super powers, Lex Luthor finds out that he’s been lied to and has been compatible all along. Man, Earth’s heroes are in deep shit.

Also, three of the Four Horsemen arrive in Kahndaq, possibly planning on having tea with Black Adam and the rest of the Black Marvel Family. Or maybe they’re planning on raising hell to plant the seeds of the forthcoming World War III. The build-up to this weekly series’ finale is getting more intense every week. Frickin’ awesome.

I give this 4 out of 5 old Atlantis dudes who curiously resemble Aquaman.

Annihilation #6: If there’s one thing that this issue will teach you, it has got to be not to piss off Galactus! I’ve never read anything with him or the Silver Surfer that presented this much cosmic badassery. Galactus is so badass, Silver Surfer needs to “herald his rage” across three star systems. This release of rage from the Devourer of Worlds weakens Annihilus‘ forces enough for Ronan and his Kree army to kick Annihilation Wave ass.

Reading this issue is like watching the Lord of the Rings, but without Frodo and the rest of his midget gay posse. I have read only a handful of comic book battles that felt larger than life, and this issue is definitely one of those. We get a new and sexier Quasar who helps Nova defeat Annihilus (which he does in a gross and awesome fashion). The excitement never stops even up to the last page where we learn that “The lord Annihilus lives!”

I give this 5 out of 5 fallen heralds of Galactus.

Fantastic Four #542: This issue was released two weeks ago, but I didn’t get it immediately since I’m not really into the Fantastic Four. But with all the online buzz this issue is getting about the new writer, Dwayne McDuffie, and how he handled the writing, I decided to give it a try. I’m not disappointed.

The conversation between Mr. Fantastic and the Human Torch in the coffee shop finally makes me care about these characters. So far, their Civil War debate is the most interesting one for me.

The conversation between the Mad Thinker and Mr. Fantastic is also a fun read. This is the first time I’ve read a comic where they discuss Isaac Asimov and his works. And it didn’t feel forced. Fascinating read all in all. If McDuffie stays on as writer, I’ll probably add this to my pull list.

I give this 4 out of 5 sneaky Invisible Women.

Silent War #1: Okay, I said last week that I’ll be waiting for the trade for this one, but I just can’t resist, especially with all the good reviews I’m seeing.

Gorgon, the lord high commander of the Inhuman Imperial Guard, takes three other Inhumans to publicly declare war on America. No one should be harmed, it’s just a display of strength. But it’ll be boring if nothing goes wrong with their plan, right?

One psychopath member of Gorgon’s terrorist cell (I’m sorry, but that’s the most appropriate word I can come up with after reading this) chokes 47 innocents and injures dozens more inside a theater using plants. Yes, plants. It brings the Fantastic Four into the fray which leads to the Inhumans’ capture.

Meanwhile, tension builds inside the House of Black Bolt. Snapping your fingers at a lady, especially one as hot as Medusa, is not cool, Bolty. You can make up for it by going to Earth and kicking everyone’s ass.

I give this 4 out of 5 great lighting techniques by Frazer Irving.

Ultimate Civil War: Spider-Ham: This could either be the dumbest idea ever, or the most thought-provoking statement regarding the current status of the comic book industry. You decide!

The first few pages are hilarious, with Spider-Ham (Peter Porker‘s alter ego) realizing that he’s out of ideas because he no longer has thought balloons. He then sets on a quest to reclaim said thought balloons. This is where I stop laughing.

With a little hokey magic from Doctor Strange, Peter Porker gets a glimpse of his alternate dimension lives. We meet Wolverham! The Invincible Iron Ham! The Incredible Green Ham! The Fantastic Ham! Deviled Ham, the Ham without Fear! Ant-Ham! Ultimate Captain Hamerica! Hambit! Hamneto! Crazy!

After a trippy series of one-page splashes, Peter somehow reclaims his thought balloons then he becomes Zombie Spider-Ham. Riiiiiight. I now hate J. Michael Stracwhatshisface.

I give this 2 out of 5… umm… hams.

X-Men #195: Man, the X-Men got punk’d big time. This new villain called Pan is intense!

Mike Carey delivers another fun issue with this unusual crew of mutants. I just wish they take off Humberto Ramos from the book. His art looks good and all, but it just doesn’t fit my taste. He draws nice female ass and boobies though.

Before Mike Carey, I always thought of Iceman as the dude who slides on ice, freezes his enemies, and makes wisecracks which aren’t really funny. Now, he’s the dude who can pull himslef together after being incinerated, evaporated, and/or blown up! Cool. (pun!)

Next issue will be the final chapter of this story arc, and judging from the last page of this issue, it’s going to be a ball. I mean, other people drop bombs on their enemies. But Cable? He drops Sabretooth.

I give this 4 out of 5 shameless shots of boobs and butts.

Crap. That’s a long post. I’ll stop now.