Bangkok Bound!



And now for the news! Midway into this week, I suddenly was told a pretty surprising thing- I'm going off to Bangkok early next week! And just like that, I am now on my way to my third trip outside the Philippines, and my second off-country destination. I've only been to Hong Kong (twice) before, so I'm really excited to be heading for Thailand. I've been told by everyone and their mother (well, my Mom, actually) that Bangkok is beautiful and a great place to tour and enjoy. Unfortunately, I'm actually not going on a vacation- it's work, though I apparently have some time to run wild before I have to report in to earn my per diem. In any case, I'll be there for up to a week, so I guess I can lay to rest any worries that I might over-pack this time around. I have to worry more about under-packing.

Fortunately, there'll be internet where I'm staying, so the blogging will continue. Man, I'm excited! Later then! Gotta prep.

Mangaholix Presents Issue 5 Cover


Ninja Cover Girl KO!

As of this writing, Mangaholix Presents #4 is already available in comic book stores and branches of National Bookstore, Power Books and Fully Booked all over the Metro, so get your copy now (and a copy of issues 1 to 3 if you haven't gotten them already)! But even better, Mangaholix Presents #5 will be heading to shelves in a couple of weeks time as well! The coming Issue 5 will, as seen above, have my very own Ninja Girl KO! as the cover story, with the ever-gorgeous art of Kriss Sison. Goodness Willing, we'll have a straight flush of Mangaholix Issues 1 to 5 on sale and available at the upcoming M3Con at the end of the month. WOOHOO!!!

Man, I can't wait. And I don't even have my copy of Issue 4 yet, darn it. Gotta head for the mall soon, I guess.

Tony Stark Raving MAD Review


Iron-fisted.

Let me say this going in. I never was an Iron Man fan. Never really got into the character or the comics. The recent Civil War mini-series from Marvel did little to make me like the hero as well. Earlier this year, I really wasn't looking forward to the movie version- didn't like the trailer, saw nothing but another movie laying all it's eggs in CG effects and little else.

Well, I've seen the film, the latest superhero adaptation from Marvel, and what do you know.

I have to say it's the freakin' best superhero movie I've seen yet.

Better than all the Spiderman flicks. Better than the X-men flicks (although what Iron Man is missing is a naked blue shapeshifter babe...). Better than Fantastic Four. Better than Batman Begins, by far. At the very least, it's the most FUN superhero flick so far that I've seen.

Bold words, I guess. But what can I say? This film works. It works on every level, impresses me from beginning to end with a story, character, cast, effects, pacing and script that had me in my seat to the end, aching bladder and all.

Robert Downey Jr. as billionaire industrialist/weapons-dealer Tony Stark OWNS this movie. He freakin' NAILS it. He IS Tony Stark (Though I kinda felt that from the trailers). Downey's Stark is funny and fun. He's Bruce Wayne with about a gazillion times more technical genius and none of the psycho baggage. But the big difference between Stark and Gotham's Favorite Son? Stark knows how to live it up and enjoy himself. He looks, feels, acts and swaggers like a billionaire, and you eat it up. He's funny, he's irreverent, he's a little kid in a grown man's body, and you just like him right away.

But of course, all is not fun and games, and shortly after we meet Stark who's on top of the world, he gets kidnapped, dragged near to death and back, and sees the fruits of his labors... all the warmongering evil of it. So what happens? Tony grows a conscience. He's always been a good guy, but this momentous event focuses him and turns him from just someone with great power to, well, to coin the cliche, someone who decides to take on a great responsibility. This transition from fun-loving, Devil May Care playboy to Devil May Care playboy superhero is handled perfectly and drives the movie forward on repulsor thrusters.

Giving strong support is Gwyneth Paltrow as Pepper Potts, Stark's Girl-Friday and kinda-sorta-love interest (her scenes with Stark are really nice and add heart to the tech) and she looks beautiful. Although her unflappable performance in this one brings to mind, in a kind of good way, her stint in the somewhat tragic Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow.
An almost unrecognizable Jeff Bridges has a delicious role as Obadiah Stane- a bit of a cross between Apple's Steve Ballmer and Saruman. Stane will immediately be recognized by Marvel fans as the movie's antagonist, the Iron Monger, and his slow unmasking is a good buildup for the very physical finale at the end.
Then there's Terrence Howard, as Tony Stark's best friend James Rhodes (whom we all know will someday wear The Suit), and his role, while understated, is damn fun. The straight man to Stark, he's like a cross between Cuba Gooding Jr. and Forrest Whittaker.

As much as the script, pacing and consistency of the production values of the movie were things I enjoyed thoroughly; everything feels right and has a glossy, big budget feel, as it should., it has to be said as well that the special effects are amazing. The action is pretty hard-hitting, though never graphic (the film has a high body count, actually, though blood is almost never seen), and Iron Man doesn't shirk from using lethal force. Some parts in the movie made me go YEAH! MAN, I want a damn Iron Man suit too, damn it!

Great action and special effects, solid pacing, a great script with tons of witty, snappy banter that's been updated to the times and loaded with cool payoffs (and lots of little details that will have Marvel fans giddy- I have to admit the thing with SHIELD caught me off-guard and had me smiling after) and a great cast, I of course have to applaud director John Favreau who batted this bad boy out of the stadium for a marvelous home run. I can't wait to see the next movie (this is supposedly just the first of a trilogy, with the cast all signed up to the end).

Iron Man really surprised me. Enough to make me a fan of the comic? Probably not, but I am a darn fan of this movie, and I'm gonna have to watch it again too since I freakin' missed the extra scene at the end after the credits.

Iron Man is now showing in theaters all over the Metro. WATCH IT. WATCH IT NOW!

Mangaholix Presents Issue 4


Coming out this week!

According to a very reliable source, the fourth issue of Mangaholix Presents is out in stores (most probably National Bookstore branches) this week. The latest ish will have the latest installments of the local manga antho's mainstay stories, led by cover story, fantasy-action title Kraust: Ten Roars of Heaven. Filling up the book along with it are Fist Fight Manifesto, Aporia, Pulis Pangkalawakan and, of course, Ninja Girl KO! (which is on it's second episode). So check out the comic stands soon for your local manga fix. I know I will. Heheh.

Reincarnated



As I posted about earlier, my old Canon Ixus 60 digicam went swimming in Boracay a couple of weeks back. I took it to a Canon service center and hoped that it wouldn't take too much to get it back to working order. Well, a call came in today and I received the quote for repairs- 20K with change. TWENTY FREAKIN' THOUSAND PESOS PLUS PLUS. Man! That's enough to buy a brand new, higher-end Canon. It was just a fifth shy of the price I paid for the camera when I bought it. Darn! So what could I do save tell the Canon rep to just dispose of the now-useless piece of salt water-logged junk.

Well, as if in answer to my loss, Mom came home today from her 12-day trip to the Holy Land and Egypt, and she brought with her... a new camera! She had told me prior to leaving to refrain from buying a new digicam locally since she would be stopping over at Dubai where a huge Duty-Free sold cameras at a very cheap price. Well, our patience was rewarded. My new camera is a lovely Canon Ixus 82 IS. It's a nice, compact, blue 8-megapixel snapper that comes with cool features like Face Detection and Motion Stabilization. NICE! Better yet, it came at a price of about half of what I paid for my old Ixus60. The price was so good, mom got herself a new camera too (an Ixus 70) which she used to take gobs of pics of her time touring the religious and cultural center of Christianity. So all's well that ends well, I guess.

Of course, I won't be taking my new cam to any beach anytime soon. Heh.

Avatar BLOWOUT!!!


The End begins in July.

The recent New York Comic Convention revealed a lot of things Avatar: The Last Airbender to fans who have been starved of content for months. For starters, the above trailer which features clips from the next few episodes. The 4-part finale to the series will air in July, and will end the series with a bang as Aang finally engages the Firelord in a climactic final confrontation. Also, the first Avatar live-action movie will be shown in 2010, and have the title The Last Airbender (since the title 'Avatar' has already been stolen by James Cameron...).

Man, this is gonna be bittersweet. The greatest US cartoon ends in a few months, but man, it's shaping up to be an awesome end. I can't wait. WOOHOO!!!

And here (MEGA-SPOILER ALERT) is a 7-minute preview of episode 3.17 The Ember Island Players, which is IMO the best way to have a clip show before the finale. Awesome, hilarious stuff and it perfectly illustrates how beloved this show has become to it's fans. Man, I am going to love this show forever.

Gadget Lust Again!

It never fails- whenever I lose a gadget in some way, I suddenly get the craving to replace it with another- whether it's another of the same gadget or something totally different. As if there's a techno-void in me that demands to be filled. Long ago, it was the loss of a cellphone 'won' during a Christmas party that caused me to careen hopelessly and endlessly into mobile phone frenzy... and now, the loss of my digicam has me once again looking here and there at the gadget shelves.

Of course, I shouldn't buy a camera- my Mom will be getting a new Canon Ixus to use on her trip, and that will be mine to buy when she comes home. With this in mind, I shifted to looking about for other substitutes. A cellphone was out of the question- my iPhone is still hunky-dory, and my love for it has bloomed even more of late after an install of the awesome Genesis4iPhone app has turned my mobile into a portable 16-bit gaming system. It was fun though to hypothesize about the latest models on offer from the big brands. The Nokia N95 8GB model still remains the phone model I'd get if I didn't have an iPhone- the huge storage, Symbian OS, N-Gage gaming and best camera (still and video) around make it THE all-in-one device to have. Also catching my attention is the N82, the OTHER great Nokia camera phone with an OS, although the lack of big storage irks me.

On the Sony Ericsson side, I finally saw the W960i, and I have to say- I am underwhelmed by the plasticky, toy-like look of the actual device (which looked so slick and suave in online pics). The Nokia equivalent N95 8GB beats this one out.

Well, I'm still firmly entrenched with my Apple device, given how it still pretty much kicks every other phone's arse, including the ones mentioned above, in terms of video playing quality (Mpeg-4 video ROCKS), and the huge, hi-res screen still never fails to make my eyes shine. Sigh.

So I cast away any more thoughts of any big gadget acquisitions... for now. I just contented myself with a new Flash Drive- an 8-GIG Flash Drive- that should be great for ferrying files and other stuff here and there. Man, technology. You gotta love it.

Can't wait for what the future brings.

Ixus Mortus

During my stay in Boracay last week, I got to enjoy the white sands of the island getaway, the surprisingly very mainstream and commercial amenities of a beachfront hotel with grade-A facilities but below-par food (The Two Seasons), quite a few man-sized portions of Jonah's Shakes and, unfortunately, the experience of having my nice ol' digital camera take a dip in the salty water.

Yep, a stupid little mistake lost me my trusty Canon Digital Ixus 60, and for the rest of the stay I was bereft of a cam to chronicle the days of beach, booze and babes. Strange thing- for an island that expects tons of tourists, there's no place on Boracay to service your camera in case of trouble like this- for shame.

Anyway, I had the cam given over to the Canon service center, and hopefully we'll be able to resurrect the dead cam. It's really a waste if we couldn't. In any case, my Mom will be coming home with a new digicam most likely when she comes back from her current tour of the Holy Land. We'll see what comes first- a new old cam or a new totally new cam. Either way, I'll be sure to never have this happen again... or resolve to buy a waterproof case for the camera if I ever go back to Boracay or any other beach. Oh well.

Private Iris


A new crimefighting team is on the case.

What has Arnold Arre, creator of Myth Class, Trip to Tagaytay and Andong Agimat been up to lately? Well, teaming up with Jaime Bautista, creator of Cast, that's what! Their offspring (that sounded wrong) is the new kids' detective comic, Private Iris, which has recently been blitzing emails online.

With story by Jaime and art by Arnold, of course, the series stars Iris Able, a somewhat offbeat girl who's been labelled as a loner by the rest of her class. Enter Danton, the most popular boy in school! Danton has this wild idea to team up with Iris in order to solve some baffling cases troubling the campus, and of course- mystery, action and adventure ensue! And friendship, of course. It's the sort of thing any comic reader would love, though the title is being directed mainly towards kids, even giving sections for 'Clue Reviews', tips on stuff like science and saving and good ol' fashioned values. The comic should be available in Fully Booked and other bookstores around the Metro.

Private Iris will have its official launch on April 19, at Fully Booked Bonifactio Heights. You can check the Official Site for more information.

Can't wait to get my hands on this. Let's all check it out, peeps.

Life's a Beach

Tomorrow, I get up hours before the crack of dawn to the airport, off to the white sands of Boracay! It's been years since I last went down to arguably the Philippines' most well-known beach getaway, and I'm curious to see if it's changed again. The first couple of times I went there, it was pretty pastoral with cozy shacks and little makeshift eateries and inns. The last couple of times, there were full-blown hotels along the shoreline and a MALL in the middle of the island. I wonder if there are high-rises or a metro-rail already installed by now?

Anyways, it's part work, part bonus/break, so it should be nice. Bought new travelling short pants, swim trunks and everything, so I guess I'm kinda excited.

The last time I was there as well, the internet was still slow and wonky- hopefully by now broadband on the beach will be up so I can still surf without a surfboard if I spy a net cafe on the sands. Man, I am a net addict, am I?

Three days in Bora starts tomorrow. Later then, people! I'll snap pics.

Eighteen Years



This weekend, me and my college barkada will be having a little get-together, just out of the blue. I thought at first it was just another dinner to spend with the gang, just another time to throw around old war stories, get updated on present goings-on and laugh about this or that issue. It was only when one friend texted me saying that the dinner was to celebrate our eighteen years of knowing each other that I suddenly got floored.

EIGHTEEN YEARS. Man.

That's a long time.

Man.

I still consider myself 'young', but that's mainly because of my own personal outlook, my continual resistance to 'growing up' and wearing 'grown-up' clothes and taking on a 'grown-up' personality and manners. I still wear collar-less t-shirts regularly to work. I still wear jeans and sneakers or rubber shoes. I still love to laugh out loud, have fun with stupid stuff and play frickin' videogames. But even so, I have to realize that I've been on this earth for more than three decades.

And more than half of that time, I've enjoyed and spent with these guys.

Times spent learning useless shit in UP, walking endless kilometers to the next class, toiling away on this or that plate, consoling each other when we were down (though I usually do the consoling), sweating it out in CMT and feasting on fast food whenever we got the money to spare. Since then, into our working, professional lives, we've still kept in touch, seeing each other grow and change and not change. Awesome.

Friends have come and gone, but these guys remain, and God willing, they'll always be there. And I'll always be there for them.

Man.

Eighteen years.

CON Air



Man, it feels like the last C3Con was just last week, and now there's another big comic/manga convention coming. Nicely enough, it's closer to me though. The M3Con or Mangaholix Manga Mania: AniManGaming Convention 08 will be held this coming May 31, 2008 (Saturday) at Hall 4 of the SMX Convention Center (next to Mall of Asia), and of course it's from Groundbreakers Inc., makers of Mangaholix Presents. Aside from the tons of toys, games, cosplayers, anime and manga, there will be of course lots of focus on indie artists and comic-creators ready to show off their latest locally-made manga and comics. Registration is now going on for both the Indie Bazaar and a cool 10-page Comic Creation Competition. Details can be found here.

I guess I'll be there with the rest of the Mangaholix Crew (whether I want to or not, I was informed... heh-heh), and we'll be there showing off our stuff as well, showing the budding Manga-kas how we do things. Fates be willing, we'll also have the latest issues of Mangaholix (along with the next episodes of Ninja Girl KO! of course) available for all. Hopefully we'll also have lots of local comics personalities, be they into manga or not, there to just hang out and have fun. See you all there in May then!

NINJA-NINJA!!!


Snake Eyes. Badaaaaasssss.

Here's the first pic of Snake Eyes, the silent, mute ninja from the upcoming G.I. Joe motion picture being directed by Stephen J. Sommers (The Mummy). In case you didn't know, the man behind the mask is Ray Park (Darth Maul, Toad), so we can be sure he'll have the MOVES. Man, he looks awesome, and I can't wait to see this long, long, long-awaited movie. I mean, the closest I've seen to a live-action G.I. Joe are skits of Cobra Commander, Destro and The Baroness on G4TV's Attack of the Show, and while I do find them quite enjoyable, this is quite another league of coolness. The movie is due out in Summer 2009.

Till then, COOBRRALALALALALALALALALALALAAAA!!!

Working Hard for the Money...

Man, work's been pretty sustained for the past couple of months. It seems that every week brings another pitch that requires all hands in The Salt Mines to batten down the hatches, gird the loins and prepare for another overnight session. My forays to the mall have lessened to a trickle, and at the end of a day, usually I'm just begging to get home and unwind in the comfort of The Sanctum. Maybe I just need vitamins (More Energy, Mas Happy!). Or maybe it's just that our company's growing and we need to grow with it. That's always good.

In many ways, I guess it's fine that I've put going out nights with barkadas more or less behind me... time is valuable and has to be rationed. I have to say, it's still not reached a point of horror. I can still say that I'm enjoying what I'm doing, I still look forward to things and still have the spark in me to do creative fun stuff every now and then- so long as time permits. I guess I just have to work a little harder.

Anyway, work's still full steam ahead into the Holy Week break... which will make the holiday all the sweeter. Back to work then...

Respect to the Master

The father of Dungeons and Dragons is dead. Gary Gygax, 69, succumbed on Tuesday after struggling with health problems for past few years. I remember first reading about D&D in comics, and then getting intrigued about this thing called 'pen and paper gaming'. I bugged my relatives in the US to get me the game even though my parents often said that this D&D thing was 'satanic'. When I eventually got my first D&D set, it was the Campaign Rules set, which was totally useless and over my head without the previous Basic and Expert sets, but I devoured it hungrily and made my own rules with a bunch of six-sided die and my imagination.

And more than all the cool manuals and art and modules and novels and worlds introduced by D&D over the years, the most I can say that it have me was the capacity to create- to make my own worlds, to make my own heroes and party of adventurers to venture into realms unknown. Thanks to Dungeons and Dragons, I created kingdoms, empires, continents, heroes, villains, curses, legends, myths, artifacts, monsters, deities, cults, mysteries and countless other cool stuff in my mixed-up grey matter. I owe D&D so much of what I am today as a creator, writer, player and gamer.

Thank you Gary. Dungeon Master. Rest in peace.

Cuteness

I've already posted about Manikako before- the NGO project which accepts donations of old clothes and cloth to be used for workshops to teach less forunate kids how to make cute Manikako dolls and get a livelihood. Well, the project has so far been a rousing success- Manikako boxes are usually filled up with generous donations and the workshops themselves are usually mobbed with curious and excited onlookers and participants.

Well, I was able to commission a Manikako artist to make a couple of dolls, and here they are...


Ninja Girl Doll KO! It's Michiko in Manikako form! She even comes with a pretty little obi/sash. Lovely!


And heeeere's Kai in little recycled cloth-doll form aka ManikaKAI. The artist even gave her a little angry face. CUTE!

Really cool to see these little ones. All that's left is to get Angel in Manikako form too. Heheh. This is awesome. For more informationa bout this, check out www.manikako.com.

Sobra Talaga sa Overtime

Since last week, I haven't had a weekend yet. After Friday night, work just kept on going into Saturday, Sunday and today (which is a holiday). When a pitch strikes, there's nothing to do but keep at it until the last minute. That's the way it's been done for years, and it won't stop anytime soon. On the bright side, it should all be over tomorrow, so then hopefully I can ease off and take a break to make up for the three weeks or so that I haven't been to the mall for my comics or to anywhere aside from home for sleep in recent memory.

On another bright side, I seem to have cut down a lot on spending since most of my meals are provided for and I haven't really had any chance to spend on anything aside from taxi fare for the past month or so. So I guess it's not all dim. My one and only hope after all this is that we actually win this darn thing so it will have been all worth it. Crossing fingers then.

Back to regular thought processes (and regular blogging) once I have recuperated...

Massive Attack

A couple of months ago, my television life revolved around Solar TV, with it's up-to-date episodes of WWE, raunchy uncensored cartoons and other weird odds and ends. Well, Solar left our cable provider, but you won't find me complaining. The new Maxx Channel is more and better of the wild thrills and niche pleasures provided by Solar, only tons better. A lot of the programs are from G4 TV, which is, seriously, seemingly made for me. There's X-Play, the longest-running and supposedly most-watched videogame review/preview/news/gag show around, which I have been a fan of since it's early days back in TechTV. Then there's Cinematech, which shows a bunch of videos and trailers from videogames, including not-for-kids stuff, hence the subtitle Nocturnal Emissions. Ooh.

But the most fun I have is with my daily fix of Attack of the Show, an irreverent hour of all the stuff I care about- basically internet buzz and fads, gaming/tech news, showbiz, movies and entertainment news. Plus every so often they break out with hilariously weird skits/vignettes and gags, all handled gamely by hosts Kevin Pereira and Olivia Munn (who is a darn FOX). Oh, and you have to love a show that shows political advertisements by Cobra Commander.

Oh, and for my wrestling fix, Maxx also shows WWE 24/7, which basically shows off classic matches and episodes from the WWE's past- great stuff with classic superstars like Hulk Hogan, Macho Man Randy Savage, Andre the Giant, The Rock, Razor Ramon and TONS more. Decades of wrestling history, rewound and on offer again. I can get the latest shows and PPV's elsewhere, but this look into the past of professional wrestling is pretty awesome.

Even better, a lot of the Maxx's shows are aired after midnight, so I have stuff to look forward to after work. Coolness. So I don't always have to be blogging and surfing all the time... I can actually be found watching TV again. Sometimes.

But Seriously

Putting down the vicarious hat for a moment, I have to say that our country's in a bind. That's an understatement of course... to everyone out there on the web, let it be known- the Philippines is currently in the grip of silent Martial Law. A controlled Status Quo held by probably THE most corrupt, most tenaciously rapacious and greedy regime EVER in the country's history. The Marcoses with all their extravagance pale in comparison. Ramos at least left after stealing his cut. Erap was stupid enough to get caught and have the shame to leave the palace. But THIS regime... MAN. Not only is it known for unparalleled greed, corruption and bare-faced theft of public resources and funds, it's also known for rampant stupidity and incompetence, with a large majority of positions in government being held by former military and cronies who know NOTHING of what their department means.

The sad thing is, everything bad and evil in the Philippines is in the government, in power. That leaves the honest, the hardworking, the simple to toil regardless, to just survive and earn enough. The order is evilly efficient though- keep the working class just well-fed enough but struggling to be too tired to protest, but not hungry enough to take to the streets and rip these motherfucking bastards off their high horses as they should. On the other hand, the poor get poorer, but what does anyone care? They don't have a voice, they don't matter. The rich just get richer, the cronies get a cut from everything, from funds and loans meant for the country, for our schools, our roads, our economy.

It's a hard thing to combat. The bad guys control the military. No one has the charisma, the strength or the resources to challenge them. No revolt or protest arrives without strong-arm tactics from the government quashing what little forces arrive to shout out their grievances. They say the Filipinos are tired of People Power. But that's not true. They're just waiting for it to happen again. It hasn't yet, I believe. Just a lot of false starts. You can't turn on People Power like a faucet. Too bad there isn't a Cardinal Sin or a Ninoy to rally behind. Everyone currently around is either just as dirty as the bad guys, or just plain stupid.

But there seems to be movement now, among students and other elements that are once again trying to gain momentum to get this government to fall. People are angry, but then again, people are also just tired and want to just keep on working. But damn, do we really need to allow the filth to suck this frickin' land dry before we actually move? Do we actually need to see people starving in the streets and our country in ruins before we run these bastards out of Malacanang?

The Filipinos are too kind, too divided, too used to poverty and too jaded, most of the time. I'm no exception. But there is a limit to everything. Evil can't reign forever. When the wave of justice finally arrives, people will know. Then people will flood the streets and then we'll see. If the Filipino is still worth fighting for.

Moving on.

INDYYYYYYY!!!



The teaser trailer for Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull is now online in lovely, lovely Quicktime, so go on and download it! I mean, this is a trailer you need to see in QT, not in crappy Youtube quality. I have to say, Indiana Jones is THE number one name in Pulp Action-Adventure. No other character, franchise or series quite nails it like Indy. Even though the movies' quality has gone down a notch with every subsequent sequel, even the worst Indy film (Last Crusade) is still head and shoulders above every other tomb-raiding, treasure-hunting, fist-fighting and bull-whipping film or show out there.

Anyway, even though he's quite a long in years and has played the President of the United States (GET OFF MY PLANE), he still looks Indy-cool. I mean, Professor Jones has never been a macho man like Rambo, so it doesn't matter that he's not ripped. He's still Harrison Ford, he's still Indy. Anyway, the Roswell link, the new baddies (Russian cold warriors led by a brunette Cate Blanchett) and the same hard-hitting but kinda-cartoony action seems intact even this early, and that's awesome. It's gonna be a bit of a wait till May, but darn, this should be worth it. To pass the time, I should track down DVD copies of the earlier films and have myself a marathon one of these days.

Anyway, download links for the trailer can be found here. Can you hear that classic theme playing? WOOHOOO!!!