Piping-hot New Anime

Thanks to the internet, I've been able to dispense almost entirely with visiting local anime shops, plus I can sample piping-hot new titles even before the wide world decides they're hits or misses. Two new titles have so far crossed my path and gotten me interested.


Nginiig! Anime-style.

Ghost Hunt is a perfect title for the coming Halloween season. A Japanese high school student named Mai, whose hobby is to swap ghost stories with her two gal pals, meets a mysterious young man named Shibuya during one of their spook sessions. Later, Mai encounters him again when she passes by a supposedly cursed old school building. Because of an accident she has a hand in causing, Mai ends up working as Shibuya's assistant. It turns out that Shibuya is the manager of a quite famous psychic research institute, and he's investigating the building for supernatural phenomenon. Mai also finds out that the handsome Shibuya is a bit of an arse... but a smart arse, at least.
Soon though, more supernaturally-inclined specialists turn up- a sexy miko (priestess) and an unusually liberal monk, a 19-year old exorcist from Australia (ever wanted to find out what an Aussie sounds like in Japan?), a spirit channeler and one of Mai's schoolmates who claims to be able to see spirits. All have gathered in the cursed school building, yet none seem to believe in each others' abilities. Is the building really haunted? Who's real and who's fake among the charaters? Well, I'll just have to keep watching this title to find out.

Ghost Hunt has nice animation and clean character designs, some funny writing and some cool atmosphere... and pretty cool opening music which kinda reminds me of the old Hardy Boys theme (Darn I'm old...). The different characters are interesting and anime seems to do scary stuff quite well. Looks like I'll be going a-hunting a lot in the weeks ahead.


The latest from GONZO.

Pumpkin Scissors is a very odd name for an anime... and an even odder name for a military unit. But here they both are. Set in a European-like world where an Empire and several rival nations have just come out from a devastating war, this new series from GONZO Animation is all about a special unit of the military, The Pumpkin Scissors, that has been assigned to give relief to victims of the war. Relief in this case means protection from renegade elements of the military that are now operating as bandits throughout the land.

The "Pumpkin Scissors" special platoon is led in the field by the headstrong but fearless Alice Martin, a young lieutenant fresh from the academy. During their first mission, Alice encounters a tall, scarred soldier named Roland. When some bandits with a tank show up, the Pumpkin Scissors team up with the scruffy soldier to save the people of an oppressed village. Roland soon shows that he's not an ordinary soldier- he's an elite Anti-tank Trooper, a fearsome one-man killing machine that deals death with his big-arse gun by the spooky light of his blue night lantern.

The first episode of Pumpkin Scissors had me impressed with some nice character designs and animation, plus some cool, bloody action. I still can't figure out WHY the special corps is named as it is... I guess I'll find out in the next episodes.


Violent mecha action.

Innocent Venus is apparently a 12-episode mini-series, but the quality is obvious even from the first installment. Set in an earth devastated by a series of hurricanes, Innocent Venus sees Japan being the one last superpower after 5 billion people are lost in the deluge. Japan's population becomes segregated into the rich 'Logos' and the poor 'Revenues'. The Logos are kept in power by their army, which is armed with powerful mecha.
One day, a mysterious young girl named Sana is being pursued by the Logos military, accompanied only by two young men- the friendly Jin, and the taciturn Jo- both former members of the Logos' elite special forces, the Phantom corps. Who is Sana, and why is she so important to the rebels and the Logos?
This title promises some hard-hitting action, and the violence gets pretty bloody. The setting is intriguing, and the animation quite excellent. Once again, we'll probably find out about the title's meaning once more episodes show up.

Ask for these anime at your favorite anime shops- these just may be future hits in the making.

A Day of Bad Luck and Good Art



Today is Friday the 13th. To celebrate this particularly infamous day AND a certain female supernatural detective that has been turning heads recently in the local comic book scene, Budjette Tan has put together an online collection of artworks called Exhibit 13. A more varied view of Alexandra Trese and her two sidekicks, The Kambal, you will probably never find. Go there and check out the cool art, including a bigger version of my own rendition of Miss Trese.

Check it all out at Exhibit 13.

Trese is a horror/crime comic created by Budjette Tan and Ka-Jo Baldisimo.

Sweet Victory

The past couple of weeks was a STORM of work... both literally and figuratively.

During the height of the super-typhoon Milenyo, I was in the office working on a pitch. Even after the killer storm had passed leaving Metro Manila temporarily in the Dark Ages, we were still working.

Well, all that work paid off and we WON EVERY FRICKING ACCOUNT WE PITCHED FOR. Four new fricking accounts. WOOHOO!

Of course, with the satisfaction of our jobs well done and the hard work having not been in vain is of course the realization that the real storm is just beginning.

You gotta love advertising.

Oh well. Moving on. Moving on.

Back to Ivalice

I've gotten my hands on a copy of Final Fantasy XII. The latest Final Fantasy is pretty different from past recent installments in the series. Instead of the usual anime-laced sci-fantasy soap operas, we get a more midieval/sci-fi setting charged with political intrigue and machinations aplenty.
In the land of Ivalice, the small kingdom of Dalmasca is in the midst of a war between two great empires. One of the empires, Archadia, advances and takes control of Dalmasca after some drama and the shedding of royal blood. Two years after the Archadian occupation of Dalmasca, various individuals within the kingdom come together in order to free their land and people.

FFXII boasts not only a new graphic style but new gameplay as well. Gone are the random encounters of previous FF's; the game now plays similar to an MMORPG, with your characters running around engaging visible enemies in pseudo realtime/turn-base combat. Other new systems govern levelling up, acquiring spells and skills, and using weapons. It's all new and shiny, and goes with the new graphic style and music (which is more FF Tactics than the RPGs) and some decent english voice acting.

I have to say though that the art style and the characters so far strike me as stiff. The story and overall feel though also reminds me uncomfortably of Star Wars Episode One. You have a tiny kingdom oppressed by a greater force, you have a spunky princess and a would-be young hero... you even have a 'Watto' character! To be fair though, the plot will surely get better as I get into the game more.
Unfortunately, my first two hours or so with the game has me running around doing some errands, which while plot-driven, are pretty bland and boring. I eventually put the game down and went with the more instantly-gratifying ninja action of another new game I have, Tenchu Senran for the Xbox360.

Anyway, it's only a matter of time before I get into FFXII deeper soon enough. Perhaps I'm just getting out of the Oblivion mindset and getting myself back into the Final Fantasy groove. Expect a fuller review then.

300



Here's the official trailer for 300, inspired by the graphic novel by Frank Miller. Depicting the battle of Thermopylae between a small force of Spartans versus the massive might of the Persian Empire. The sights within this short trailer are quite fascinating. Lots of immense battle scenes, intricate costumes and scenery, fantastic costumes and glorious carnage in slow motion.
Brings to mind the Battle of Pelennor Fields, from Return of the King... at least there, the good guys numbered at least 6,000... and they had horses and eventual relief in the form of an undead army. At Thermopylae, there were 300 Spartans against more than a hundred thousand enemy troops (granted, historically there were other Greek troops, but hey, this is the movies). Awesome stuff. Check the trailer out and get ready to pick your jaw up from the floor. This film looks like something to look forward to early next year.

Call me Insidio. Or Doctor Wallflower. Or maybe... Mister Whisper. GRAHAHAHA.

According to this, I'm Evil Lite. Which also may be Evil Might. GRAHAHAHA.

You Are 26% Evil

A bit of evil lurks in your heart, but you hide it well. In some ways, you are the most dangerous kind of evil.

How Evil Are You?

Lips to Ips

After all the talk about storms and shit, how about something funny and silly and gross to lighten the mood?

A couple of weeks ago, I went over one night to the bathroom to brush my teeth. I open the light and go for my toothbrush, which was placed along with my Mom's sticking inside a cup on top of a raised platform area above the toilet. As I drew up my toothbrush, an IPIS or cockroach skittered out of the cup. I recoiled in horror and imagined that the thing may have been all over our dental care stuff, it's dirty antennae probing all over. I told my Mom about this and just resolved to buy another toothbrush.

A couple of days later, I entered the bathroom again to brush my teeth. I looked up and was about to grab my new toothbrush when- I once again recoiled in HORROR. A fricking Ipis was perched right on my toothbrush, on the bristles where you put toothpaste. The creepy little bugger was sitting pretty no doubt sucking in whatever he could from the brush. The raised position of the platform prevented me from squashing the blasted bug, but I shooed it away and then threw away the brush. This had to stop.

This was weird, of course. We were pretty tidy. The bathroom was a bathroom, but it was generally very clean. But for some reason the recent weeks saw roaches frequenting the area where we put our brushes. Perhaps it was a freak chance that I walked in and saw what I did. But now that I knew that roaches were among stuff we put in our mouths, I couldn't just stand and do nothing.
I bought a new brush with a brush head cover, and resolved to NOT put it in the cup any more. I set it aside farther away from the platform, where roaches seemed to have taken to haunting a lot.

A couple of days later, I came in to brush my teeth. I got my brush... and then ONCE MORE WITH FEELING, RECOILED IN HORROR as I saw a roach perched on the lid of the tube of toothpaste!

WHAT THE HELL?!! It was fascinating in a filthy, horrid way though, so instead of shooing the insect away, the first thing I did was grab my digicam and snap the disgusting sight (too bad I erased it, but darn it was gross) and then show my Mom just what I was talking about.

Well, since then we've taken to putting all our toothbrushes and toothpaste in personal containers (fashioned by my Dad from empty dish detergent containers) with lids to keep roaches out. My Mom has also killed a couple of roaches in the area, but we knew it was useless to kill 'em. There will always be roaches there, but at least now we've made sure we won't be french-kissing the buggers everytime we brush.

So... are your toothbrushes in a good, clean place?

The Longest Weekend

Since my last post, a lot of time had passed. I went home and came to a dark house. I had to contend with going to bed soon after taking a bath (water is one luxury we still had despite it all) Friday night. Saturday morning gave no respite, and despite all my instincts screaming for me to run off to some mall and just kill time there, I stayed at home. I stayed and slept several hours... several sweaty hours... until I realized that if I slept all day, I'd be awake all night. So I got up and walked around, read some magazines and comics from the rapidly-rising pile of unread issues. Literally, I was feeling every second tick by, and I could see the sun slowly waning and night unfurling its curtain. Thankfully, a battery-operated radio was available, so as the evening finally came in full I listened to TV Patrol Sabado and news of Milenyo's legacy and the odd murder.

Early evening found me walking outside, shirtless in the dark and sweating (darn, I felt like Rambo), staring up at the unlit lamp posts one moment, and to the lit residences of Quezon City in the distance. One thing though, that I appreciate from the time in the dark, was that I finally saw my first fireflies.

After a hurried dinner of McDonald's, I went back to bed (after a second bath) but couldn't sleep. I looked at my options for entertainment; my PSP, unused for the past week, was down to 10 percent power, so was not usable. DAMN! KEEP IT CHARGED...KEEP IT CHARGED... My Archos 700 was fully charged, but unfortunately had NOTHING in the hard drive that was watchable... KEEP IT FULL, KEEP IT FULL... And so, it fell to my sidekick Pocket PC to kill my boredom. There was still about 50 percent power left, and for a while I was choosing between conserving that power in case the next few days still saw me without a chance to recharge... or using what power I had to watch the latest episodes of Avatar. I chose to live, dammit. But luckily, in the middle of the first episode, my watch was disturbed by a familiar, yet long-missed artificial glow. LIGHT was back. I let out a yell and was jumping up and down. Alive. We're alive again.

Unfortunately, the phone lines are still dead, as is my broadband connection. So I'll be posting from the Salt Mines from now. Still, having electricity for light, PC use, DVDs and gaming is good enough for now. I can live without cable and broadband internet... for a while.

Man, I'm a fricking addict. What can you do.

Juiced

The last couple of days has proven that we only truly realize how valuable something is when we lose it. Electricity, for instance. Countless millions of Filipinos are lacking in this one basic thing right now, and it's enough to drive you nuts. Malls are crowded to overflowing by masses seeking to escape their dark, hot and electricity-lacking homes. Staying and working in the office powered by generators is much preferable than just sitting around slavering in the shadows without anything to do. Electricity powers or supports our senses to enjoy things- from being able to read a book or magazine to powering our television sets, computers and appliances. It's at the center of all the things we do, so it's not surprising that now that it's gone, we're all scurrying like ants left without a scent trail to follow.

I am loathe to leave the office right now to go back to home to the prehistoric cave The Sanctum has become. But what the heck... home is home, and at least you can rest and recollect your thoughts. Perhaps this is better. Perhaps I can learn to meditate on my actions and see where I could have done better, done more. In the end, maybe this was all for the best and I will be a better person for seeing that I am an electricity addict (as are we all), and should work on looking inward instead of outward at the brightness given by electric power.

...

Ah, screw that. I want to frickin' play Xbox360 and surf. PLEASE let there be frickin' electricity back when I go home. PUH-LEEEEEZEE...

Stormswept

I spent the whole day in the office, working and keeping my eyes firmly set on my job. It helped to kill the hours which I had to spend here in the Salt Mines instead of at home. On the bright side, I guess it was better to be in the office and actually be productive. It was also better to be in a place with electricity and a working internet connection, instead of being cooped up in the cold but dark confines of The Sanctum. Nothing's more impotent than a fully-wired electronic entertainment pad without current.
Anyway, it was surreal to just stare out into the storm-swept metropolis, seeing the wind eventually die down to a whisper. However, signs of Milenyo's fury could be seen everywhere. Downed trees and plants were everywhere, and the sight of pedestrians just walking haphazardly this way or that on the streets of Ayala Avenue just showed you that not all was right in the world. We watched the news in the Main Conference Room and through all the various sights of storm-stricken provinces and news of people being displaced and victimized by the weather, there were two things that surfaced to be quite significant over it all. One, that large advertising billboards are pretty much now recognized as public safety menaces during storms seeing as over a dozen of these large commercial signs fell over (and at least one caused the death of a person). The other thing is the annoying and pretty embarrassing way that in each of these billboard-crash sites, there are always these hooligans who swarm over like vultures to grab the scrap metal to sell for a quick buck.

Dinner was a bit of a trick, since the nearby restaurants were almost all crowded with hungry people. Eventually we were able to find a place in Jollibee and satisfy our cravings. The whole atmosphere of the place had this weird, 'calamity-stricken' feel... there were huge gaps of out-of-stock items in the menu, and periodically you'd see attendants drag out these huge bags of take-out or delivery orders (without a doubt bound for some office or call center full of starving people).

It's still blacked out in most residential places- I'll probably try to stay and wait it out until things get more stable. It would be so cool if, when dawn strikes tomorrow, it will find a Metro Manila seemingly unscathed and good as new. Of course, that won't happen.

But life goes on anyway.

Life's a Pitch

The typhoon Milenyo is set to arrive in Metro Manila today, packing winds of up to 130 miles an hour. Since yesterday, it has been announced that all classes in all levels would be cancelled. Flights have been grounded. Work suspended in many offices and workplaces. But darn, I'm here in the office for some reason. Well, the reason was that we have a pitch- which is basically us competing with other agencies for a new account... and we can't just lay down because of some, oh, storm.

So I headed off and got a cab (MRTs tend to suck or totally jam in storms), which thankfully wasn't too hard. As we went on the usual route to Makati, you could see the signs of the Storm's coming. Uprooted trees, downed signs and stripped billboards, and the odd tumbling umbrella (in place of tumbleweeds). Once we got to Makati, the wind seemed even stronger. There were still surprisingly a lot of people clustered in the entrances of buildings, huddled to keep from the rain and the wind.
I got to the taxi drop-off and as I opened the taxi's door, it was immediately flung open by the wind. I jumped off without even bothering to open my useless umbrella. Once inside the building, I saw more signs of the storm's fury- like the statue in the middle of the building's courtyard, tumbled to the ground by the wind. Yikes. Depending on what happens from now on, it'll either be very easy or very hard to get home. Well, what can you do but do work while you're here.

Oh, and the pitch date was postponed. Gah.

Going LIVE

I've had my Xbox360 for several months now, but it was only recently, in fact, only over the weekend, that I was able to experience the most the console has to offer- namely, going online on Xbox Live. For the uninitiated, Xbox Live is Microsoft's exclusive online component for their entertainment consoles (both the original Xbox and Xbox360). All you need is a broadband internet connection, some know-how and bam! You're online.
Xbox Live has quite a few treats- you can go to the Xbox Live Marketplace to download demos of upcoming games, videos and trailers, and even chat or converse with other gamers (whether they're in the country or halfway across the world). Of course, you can also go and compete with other human players in various Xbox Live-enabled games.

While a lot of stuff like demos and videos are free, you WILL need to spend real money to get credits (or Microsoft Points) to get some stuff, like expansions for games (new maps, areas, characters, etc), and to play online with other players. Luckily, despite the fact that the Philippines isn't officially a supported region, Filipinos CAN actually go online on Xbox Live and enjoy their consoles to the fullest. Thanks to Pinoy Xbox, I am now one of these gamers.

It's quite amazing; I have so far downloaded several demos and videos, and even gotten to play some rounds of Dead or Alive 4 against some players in Japan (got my butt kicked though). It's fun and I do see myself using the service from now on, whether I spend to keep subscribed to the Gold Membership or not. Once you go on Live, you can't go back. The future or gaming right there. Awesome stuff.

Not So Final

Most of us Final Fantasy VII fans have probably watched and re-watched Final Fantasy VII Advent Children and gone back to our everyday lives, happy and secure that Cloud Strife has found peace and Aerith is alive and well in the Afterlife. We can finally close the book one this chapter of our videogame lives, right? WRONG. At the recently-held Tokyo Game Show, Sony has revealed a NEW itineration of the popular CG movie.
Called Final Fantasy VII Advent Children Complete, this 'director's cut' version will be released on Sony's new Blu-ray format and have additional scenes. What scenes, you may ask? Well, so far only one has been reported, that of big baddie Sephiroth stabbing Cloud through the chest with his Masamune and hoisting Emo-boy overhead like a gutted fish. Will there be other scenes? There probably will, but I really don't think the story will be significantly different.
Still, completists will probably want to invest in a PS3 or a Blu-ray player to see the next Final Fantasy flick. Articles indicate FFVII ACC will be due out next year. Enough time to save the centavos, I guess.

DOA: Dead or Alive


Fighting and Fanservice.

Okay, I've finally gotten to see what all the fuss has been about. I saw DOA: Dead or Alive in a theater here in Manila, and so far it seems the movie is doing well (a print ad for the film has DOA being "The No.1 Movie in Manila"). That's not surprising since we love beautiful and sexy people here in the Philippines, and the movie has more or less an Asian flavor thanks to the HK director Corey Yuen.

As I've no doubt explained in tons of earlier posts, DOA follows the time-tested, If-it-ain't-broke-don't-fix-it plot of "Shady organization holds martial arts tournament, attracting various fighters". In this case, the DOA Tournament is set up by the smarmy Victor Donovan (Eric Roberts), who took over from the previous administrator. Of course since this is Eric Roberts, you know something bad is behind all the precedings. Dead or Alive's schtick is the abundance of hot lady competitors in the cast, and the movie wisely focuses on this. Charlie's Angels meets Enter the Dragon, indeed. For the most part, the film version follows the source material closely, save for quite a few liberties with some characters.

Kasumi, for example, is played by Asian model/actress Devon Aoki, whose main facial expression is looking bored out of her head. Whether you accept her as the character or not depends on whether you like the actress or not. Luckily for me, I do find her fetching so what the heck. On the other hand, her slightly aloof manner lends well to her character as some sort of ninja royalty. And her bored look CAN be accepted as 'looking focused' (It worked in Sin City). In terms of action scenes, she does have some nice moves in the film, having the most wire-fu stunts of the girls.

Christie, played by gorgeous Aussie star Holly Valance is the most radically changed from the game. Instead of the cold-blooded assassin from the game, we get a more benign but still deadly femme fatale, but with a more playful side. Otherwise, Miss Valance gets the look down and the feel that this is one dangerous but hot lady.

But the one who really gets her character down is 'My Name is Earl's' Jaime Pressly, who plays Tina Armstrong. The movie version of Tina has the big sister/tough cowboy babe personality without the obnoxious star complex from the game, so she's likeable off the bat. That Miss Pressley has a killer physique makes her even more believable that she can kick your butt.

There are two more main girls- Sarah Carter's Helena Douglas is a simplified version from the game... she isn't French, nor is she an opera singer. But she's hot and classy and plays the role well, acquiting herself well especially in the fight scenes. Finally, Natassia Malthe plays Ayane, Kasumi's rival, and has the dubious pleasure of going through the movie in a purple wig. To be fair, she's quite easy on the eyes and has the vicious glare and cool poses with katanas down pat. It would not have hurt to have given her a bit more screentime.

The rest of the supporting cast do well- real-life wrestler Kevin Nash as Bass and Brian White as Zack are note perfect. Kane Kosugi seems a little young for Hayabusa, but otherwise he's great in his fight scenes. The Matrix's Colin Chou makes a late appearance as Hayate, but he's pretty awesome while he's there. The rest of the DOA character have to make do with little cameos; Bayman and Leon at least have good exposure as Donovan's henchmen, though lose their backgrounds and become mainly villain muscle. Lei Fang and Gen Fu are seen up close in some scenes and share a short fight. Other than that, the rest pass by in flashes that you will miss if you blink. Brad Wong is seen getting smashed by Bayman. Jann-Lee falls to Christie. Eliot is seen briefly in a fight with Hayabusa. Karate kid Hitomi is in the credits but I never see her. It'll be fun to pause through the opening fights on the DVD to see the cameos in full.

Well, after all that, the fighting action makes up most of the movie, with the plot developments happening in between- kinda like cutscenes in the game. It's fast and at the very least- never boring. I only wish that some of the fights were longer. Director Corey Yuen clearly knows what he's doing, borrowing imagery and stunts from some of the best recent martial arts flicks such as Hero, Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon and House of Flying Daggers. There's wirework and CG stuff but still you do see that the stars, the girls in particular, put a lot of work to make the fights look good.

Are there any faults? Yeah, quite a few. I really dislike the characters of Maximillian Marsh (Mathew Marsden) and Weatherby (Steve Howey)... both are pretty irritating (Marsh is a smarmy scoundrel who gets by totally with luck while Weatherby is a creepy computer geek) and really, unnecessary to the precedings. Perhaps a way to please the supposed gamer market? Please.
I also dislike the way that the 'Ultimate Weapon' is a pair of skill-enhancing sunglasses that can be removed so easily... why not goggles? They won't fall off. Or how about getting some straps to keep your ace-in-the-hole from falling off your face, Donovan? Oh well.

In the end, the movie's a fun, enjoyable watch. It's not an Oscar wannabee but there's a fun, playful tone to the whole thing that makes it pretty clear that it's not really taking itself too seriously, and that's refreshing. It also certainly doesn't hurt to see so much hot bodies around in the film, though I've read so many reviews seeing this as a negative. It's FUN, people. Turn off the serious brain side and just enjoy the action and the beautiful people.

So, when's the DVD coming out?

Cast 10



The latest issue of Nautilus Comics' Cast is out. Even if you haven't been following this comic about the trials and travails of a group of friends trying to put together a play from issue 1, if you're a local comics enthusiast, this is something to check out. Why? Simply because the art chores for this particular issue are by Arnold Arre, that's why. And if getting this issue initially just for the art gets you interested in the story, then all the better, right?

Cast is available in magazine stands, comic shops and bookstores all over the Metro. Check it out!

Never Say Die

The next and perhaps last entry in the popular Die Hard series of films is coming. As expected, Bruce Willis will reprise his role as John McClane, a New York cop who has a knack for being at the wrong place at the wrong time. He was up against Euro-terrorists/hi-tech crooks in the first one, renegade US military troops in the second and an army of rogue German special forces in the third. What has the fourth film have to offer to McClane? ALIENS. McClane will be riding the space shuttle and battling an evil presence which has taken residence in a newly-opened space station.

Just kidding.

Nope, the only space that Die Hard 4 will be entering will be Cyberspace- McClane will be taking on Internet Terrorists who are out to destroy the United States's electronic superstructure. Of course, while they're classified as hackers, the baddies will no doubt have real-world nasties to throw into McClane's way. Also slated to star with Bruce Willis is Hong Kong beauty Maggie Q., last seen alongside Tom Cruise in Mission Impossible III. Q will play a world-class hacker who will be at odds with McClane.

The 4th Die Hard film will be titled Live Free or Die Hard, and will come out sometime in 2007.

Taxi Heaven

A couple of days ago, I saw this feature about taxi cabs in Japan. Apparently, even there in the Land of the Rising Sun, hard times in the economy are causing people to scrimp a bit. To attract people back to using taxis, several operators have decided to offer additional services aside from the standard 'take me from point A to B' service.

One big new service is the use of prepaid cards for use with taxis. The cards can be used with pay phones to call a cab, and then used to pay for the cab itself. No more hassle about exact change! Boy, would that be a big help here.

Another operator specializes in providing taxi drivers who also function as your personal bodyguard. The police-trained cabbies carry large, powerful stun guns (rifle-shaped tasers) and will escort their fares right to their door. This is supposedly very popular among single women who have to go out in late hours.

But the coup de grace is a special 'Nanny Cabbie' who services senior citizens. Not only will the cabbie drive the people to the mall, he'll also recommend the best places to go, show you around to the sights and make sure everything you need is provided for.

All these services are provided at the same usual taxi fare.

DAMN! That's a first-world nation for you. Here in the good ol' RP, we'd find as many cabbies who would put one over on you as there are good, honest taxi drivers. But them's the breaks I guess. Man, I could use one of those big stun guns...

Like Water for Avatar



My Avatar snippet series continues... you gotta love Youtube.

One of the coolest things about Avatar is that as the series goes along, the characters develop and grow stronger. Katara, the series' lead female heroine starts off as your usual sidekick (along with her brother Sokka) to the main hero, Aang. In many other shows, she'd probably stay that way forever- always a cheerleader or sideline support. But not here in Avatar. An aspiring Waterbender at the start of the series, Katara has little power or skill when we first see her. But towards the end of the first Season, she learns more stuff and DARN... becomes a force to be reckoned with in Season 2. The things she can do with water are simply awesome.

The clip above is from the later Season 1 episode, "The Waterbending Master", and has Katara challenging the somewhat chauvanistic Master Paku to a duel when the latter refuses to teach her since she's a girl. More amazing elemental action that is just a taste of the awesomeness that is Avatar.

X-cessive

I don't know if it was the success of Discovery Channel's Mythbusters (which is on it's 3rd season at least) that spawned the X-testers. This new Discovery Channel show has another pair of Special Effects wizards going around and looking for various supernatural phenomenon. Their goal is to look for evidence of UFOs, ghosts and monsters and then try to replicate the supposed proof- in order to show whether it's possible that the supposed supernatural event is a hoax or not.

It's an interesting premise, I have to say. I love the supernatural and these things just keep me glued to the screen. However, I find the two leads in X-testers to be a bit over the top in terms of humor- or attempted humor. Both guys try so hard to be goofy and funny and hilarious with every single line they say, and it just comes off as annoying. Very annoying. One thing is for sure, the X-testers aren't as good or as interesting as the Mythbusters' Jamie and Adam- I don't even remember their names. All I know is one of them seems to have come from Queer Eye for the Straight Guy, and the other looks like a thinner, dorkier version of James Cameron. I hope that as the show goes on they just tone down the jokes a bit and act more naturally. Or if that's the way they really are, that they tone down and try practicing being less talky. Heh.

Also a bit much are recent episodes of A Haunting, another Discovery Channel show which re-enacts various encounters of the supernatural experienced in small town America. Where the first episodes were low key haunts which were quite creepy, recent episodes have graduated to encounters with demonic apparitions that seem to have stepped through a Gate to Mordor. And every new episode seems to end with an exorcism now. I know there's a need to dramatize stuff, but come on... a lot of the things shown onscreen are just made to scare the viewer... cheap scares that just seem off for a serious supernatural show based on real-life events.

Still, complaints aside I'm still hooked on these shows. There's not enough good stuff to see on the box, so I'll take what I can. Flaws included. Oh well.

Sweet Nothing

Yesterday, me and my college bud Pot went on our usual post-payday gallivanting in Greenhills. Both of us kinda felt under the weather, but we went on the motions as we did in past trips- going around V-mall, heading towards Theater Mall, milling with the crowds at Bridgeway, then going to our pre-ordained circles in Shoppesville. Still, I wasn't as hyped up on this trip since I didn't really have anything in mind to shop for on this particular week.

When we passed by the Promenade, I saw the Bizu gourmet cafe and suddenly was in the mood for some hot chocolate. Bizu's pretty pricey- in fact, it's downright expensive. But I really just needed a cup of choco- and you don't get is much creamier or richer than at Bizu. So, I prodded Pot in and offered to treat him to the place since it was my craving. The funny thing is, I guess we got a bit of confusion... he ordered the exact cake and cup of hot chocolate I did, while I had intended only getting one cake to split between us. In the end, I ended up paying 800 pesos for a couple of tiny cakes and two cups of hot chocolate. OUCH! You'd think I was on a frickin' date to impress some girl rather than just having a lakwatsa with an old college friend.

Well, to be fair the cakes were rich and lovely, and the chocolate was really rich, thick and creamy... and I think it did both of us good since we were both infused with liquid feelgood after that. I'll just have to make sure to avoid such a thing next time to keep my wallet from hurting. In any case, I got several relatively new Xbox magazines (with DVDs) for cheap so that kinda balanced it out. A short drizzle that followed in the early evening cooled down the stuffy air and that was nice.

What a way to start the week. Heh.