Komikon and Mangaholix Presents #7 Wrap-up


Available now in National Bookstore branches all over.

Last Saturday, I attended the fourth Philippine Komiks Convention or Komikon 2008. As usual, this annual event was held at the Bahay ng Alumni at the University of the Philippines in Diliman (and as far as I'm concerned, that's where it should stay). As usual, it was a day of milling crowds, rows and rows of comics (most of them indie and local publications), the usual suspects of longtime local comic creators/artists/personalities and a budding new crop of young grafictionists wanting to break into the local comic publishing biz.

Unfortunately this year found me without any publication of my very own, though of course my work in Mangaholix Presents was present in full force. As usual though I found myself being asked when the next Angel Ace book will be coming out. As I told them, it's still in the works. Yes, I'm still intending to release the definitive, compleat, final Angel Ace book. We'll see. Next year.

For the most part though, being untied to any particular booth or function I had the luxury to just mill around with the crowd, to check out this or that shelf, pick up this or that indie and just sweat it out happily. I picked up quite a few things, so that should be fun. I met up with komik comrades Ian Cang, Kriss Sison and the Groundbreakers, Carl Vergara, Budjette Tan, Ka-Jo Baldisimo, Elbert Or, Jaime Bautista, Gerry Alanguilan and of course Arnold and Cynthia Arre. Everyone was for the most part busy as bees till the Kon finished at about eight in the evening.

Happily, business was pretty brisk- as far as I know, copies of Issue 7 of Mangaholix Presents sold out in the late afternoon, as did copies of Budj's Trese. Carl's appearance at the Visprint booth also boosted sales of Zsa Zsa. That's the great thing about the Komikon- people are there for the comics, first and foremost... the odd cosplayer regardless.

Once again, I found myself going away from the Komikon refreshed and reinvigorated. Hopefully next year, same time, we'll have tons more Mangaholix and Ninja Girl KO as well as a book of my very own on offer. We'll see. For now, let's leave it at a nice feeling that at least once again, the Komikon proves that love for komics is not lacking in Manila.

Graphic Novel Review: Martial Law Babies


The latest opus from Arnold Arre takes us back a generation...

It's been a while since the last project from local master grafictionist, Arnold Arre, but the wait has been worth it. You really can't predict what Arn has up his sleeve. Last time, it was a tribute to tagalog action movies/local fantasy with Andong Agimat. This time, it's a decidedly less magical and whimsical tale- in fact, you can't get any more real with this. Martial Law Babies is a look back at Arnold's (and incidentally, my) origins. It's the often not-so-simple story of a bunch of friends who grew up in the 70s and into the present day.

While the story follows the characters' intertwining plots and interactions, the real stars of the book are the various anecdotes, experiences, ironies, in-jokes, games, music, moods and quirks of the decades they go through. And all made all the more funny and ironic looking back at it all now.

While the characters are mostly fictional or at least fabricated from various sources or inspirations (as far as I know), it's clearly Arnold's voice speaking throughout. It's part journal and diary (far earlier than the blogs of today), part love letter, part confession, part validation, part rant, part sermon, part comedy, part tragedy... and all real. The emotion invested in the pages is heartbreakingly sincere, and that's what makes this work easily Arnold's best so far. The pages also reflect his maturity as a storyteller in pictures, mixing panels with prose in some instances, and using a more graphic and sketchy style in lieu of the super-detailed art he is capable of to convey more emotion and mood rather than minute detail.

You can't expect any whimsical, happy-happy-joy-joy endings in this one, which is admittedly pretty much the same as in real life. I actually found MLB to be extremely dark in parts, and a high amount of angst which I actually find a much for if it be something we'd characterize for our generation. But that's just optimistic me talking. Perhaps it's simply because the story's ending isn't written yet. Or it's something we make ourselves. Anyway, I'll be sure to grill Arnold about his latest masterpiece when I collar him at the Komikon. Heheh.

Martial Law Babies is now available at bookstores and Comic Quest branches in the Metro. Go. Get. Now.

Change

It's done. Barack Obama makes history today as the first African-American to hold the highest position in the United States of America.

Should be very interesting to see what happens next.

Good stuff. Congratulations, America. First step to a better world, hopefully.

Creepy Planet

I love getting creeped out. That's pretty much the reason why I love shows like Ghost Hunters. Another show, on the same Sci-Fi Network, is Destination Truth, another documentary/reality show in the vein of Ghost Hunters (in fact, the host of DT has appeared as a guest on GH). Whereas Ghost Hunters concentrates on the adventures of The Atlantic Paranormal Society as they investigate various locales in the United States purported to be haunted or beset by paranormal goings-on, Destination Truth is all about mysterious phenomenon, monsters and local legends from all over the world.

This pretty much entails having imposingly tall but amiable host Josh Gates running around the globe with his team of investigators, visiting various countries and looking for a rumored boogeyman. Pretty much invariably, this boils down to the show's host and company (awkwardly or hilariously) interfacing with the locals, meeting up with 'witnesses' or specialists on the monster-of-the-show, and then trekking to the remote location where the creature/object of their hunt is said to lurk. What follows in the last third of the episodes is usually a hodgepodge of night-vision footage as the team encounter eerie sounds, blurry dark shadows and creepy atmosphere.

For the most part, footage and evidence found is inconclusive and vague, and suspense often occurring not due to a face-to-face meeting with any monster but due to someone slipping on a log, seeing a big bug or normal, non-supernatural animal. Still, the atmosphere is usually always creepy in that Blair Witch sort of way. In other words... very similar to Ghost Hunters, just all about monsters and more world-spanning. In the end, it's all a little bit Globe Trekker/Lonely Planet travelog, but with a creepy twist, which I thoroughly enjoy, despite the overall light tone, campiness and fact that it's all in a tongue-in-cheek way, non-committal but intriguing. Just good, clean creepy fun. I'll probably have a Destination Truth marathon along with a Ghost Hunters marathon this Halloween... Heh...

iMom

Today was a bit of a crossroads for me. I counted the minutes to the arrival of my new Nokia N96, which I won from eBay in a one-sided auction. Getting into my first Nokia after several years of using Pocket PCs and then the iPhone resulted in a bit of disorientation, but my fingers went back to keypad texting with little problem. As I sat there with the N96 in one hand and the iPhone in the other, I realized part of the reason why I chose this particular model to replace my Apple device- the N96 is very similar in look to the iPhone- glossy black with little visible trimmings save for the one button (though once you activate the thing, a myriad lights turn on like a Christmas Tree). Unfortunately, the similarity ends there, at least in substance. While the iPhone felt like a solid bar of sturdy metal with a lovely heavy feel, the N96 feels like a toy with it's plastic body. However, the phone has a nice feel to it regardless, and the size is just right to rest comfortably in my hand. I spent the evening (and the meager factory charge of the N96's battery) testing out the camera, trying out the video and Mass Storage capability and troubling over a file that refused to be deleted (forcing me to format the phone's memory).

Needless to say, I'll probably be spending most of the weekend getting to grips with my new toy. I'll also probably be spending a bit of time helping my Mom- who has consequently become the owner of a used First-Gen iPhone- get used to her new device.

All things are new again...

iChange


My next phone?

I love my Apple iPhone 2G. Even to this day, I haven't seen a phone out there that looks as sexy and as slick as Apple's first-generation effort in the mobile arena, not even the iPhone 3G. The phone still looks as sleek and lovely as the day I got it, and feels just as solid, sturdy and classy all around. It's still got, as far as I know, the most user-friendly and fun interface on a mobile device I've ever experienced, the best video playing and the loveliest screen around. So, why do I find myself continually thinking of making a switch to a new phone?

Well, it's natural... I'm a gadget freak. I yearn for always finding the next big thing, the next cool toy. Stability, sameness and status quo are nice, but ultimately... boring. Right now, everything's peachy with the iPhone, but there are several glaring things that I can't deny. One, my iPhone is of a dead species- like that silent Kurt Russell in the film Soldier, replaced by a new , slicker generation of plastic-backed descendants. Though it's working quite well now, I have no idea what I will do once the battery- which has to be sent to Apple for replacement- finally starts acting up. Two, support for apps and new stuff on the free, jailbroken side of the iPhone has apparently dried up. Installer, once a rushing river of cool free applications, games and nice stuff, has as of late grown stagnant. Everyone is developing for the Apple iTunes App Store, and who can blame them? They can get paid. So far the games and apps on my phone currently are cool, but aside from the most useful stuff like Sketches, Pool and Tetris, most are just stuff to take up space on the screen.

And finally... well... better things are coming. Phones with great cameras and video. Great functionality and features. These can't be denied. Even though the form factor of the iPhone is still king for me, looks can only get you so far. There's substance to be found in other phones coming out or out right now that I, as a gadget enthusiast, can't ignore.

So what are the options I'm looking at?

Definitely I am NOT getting an iPhone 3G. I'm just sick of the overblown priced plans from Globe and the overpriced models sold by the Grey Market. I asked myself, is it worth going through all that for just added storage and some nifty games from the App Store? Nope. Man, if the App Store had a Tekken or a Street Fighter game, if the iPhone had a decent camera and video-recording and 32 GB at least, I'd plunk into it in a heartbeat. But right now? It's pretty crap. At least, for someone who has already had an iPhone for a while, the 3G model isn't an upgrade- it's a grudging kiss to Apple's ass. No thank you.

I found myself gravitating a bit towards a couple of new phones out recently- the Samsung i5810 blew me away when I first saw it in a shop at Megamall's Cyberzone. The sleek black slider has an 8-Megapixel Camera (!) and the ability to take VGA videos at 120 frames per second- that means you can play them back in butter-smooth slow motion if you want. Add to that 16 Gigabytes of storage (which you can further augment with a memory card), the latest Symbian OS and you've got one heck of a smartphone that gadget geeks would cream over. The only problems are- well- supposedly the battery life sucks eggs, the screen isn't as sharp as you'd expect and the thing's a heavy, bulky bar. Well, at least if you need to defend yourself you can use it as a blunt instrument.

The other option I am thinking of is the Nokia N96, which is the Finnish upgrade to their now-classic N95 superphone. What sets it apart is a lot more focus on video and multimedia- both of which score high with me. The 5-Megapixel camera and DVD-quality VGA video recording look great, as well as the 16 GB storage, nice big 2.8 inch screen and Symbian OS (which includes NGage gaming support). This is a true all-in-one device that can pretty much serve as my phone, PDA, media player and camera/video recorder in one compact (albeit still substantial) package.

So it's pretty obvious- I'm teetering towards a return to Nokia. It certainly seems to be a better solution than an earlier plan I had for upgrading- getting myself a 32 GB iPod Touch and a Sony Ericsson Cameraphone combo. However, this route could potentially have me at one time lugging around THREE devices at a time (a proper digicam), which is just... dumb.

It's not yet a total done deal- everytime I look at my iPhone, I just find myself totally enamoured in that huge, lovely screen and my determination slightly falters. Ultimately, I probably won't be selling my iPhone... maybe I'll just retire it and keep it around in The Sanctum like my old O2 XDA2i. But someday, it seems to be invetable... I have to move on to something else. Man, decisions, decisions.

Award Winner KO!



HEEEEYYYY!!!!

My incomparable partner-in-ninja-crime, Kriss Sison, just took home a nice little souvenir from Japan. His work on Ninja Girl KO! won for him the Bronze Award at the 2nd International Manga Awards. The Second International MANGA Award had 368 entries from 46 countries and regions, which was 222 more entries and 22 more countries and regions from the First International MANGA Award.

He was one of the 12 finalists and the ONLY Filipino among the prestigious list! How about that, eh? Yes, the Filipino CAN! Heheh.

CONGRATULATIONS, KRISS!!! May this be a sign of much more good things to come! And more Ninja Girl KO! as well! Heheh. Thanks of course to all the Mangaholix readers and NGK fans out there for the continued and enthusiastic support.

You can be sure me, Kriss and the rest of the Mangaholix crew will be working hard to bring more of Michiko's world-class, award-winning ninja girl adventures to you as we can.

Remembering Twister

I came home tonight and caught Jan de Bont's Twister on HBO. Now, despite all the less-than-stellar reviews that this blockbuster got, I am quite ready to say at anytime that this nature-action film is one of my favorite movies ever. There's such a coolness about the film- how it actually made a bunch of weirdo scientists/thrillseekers a gang you almost would want to run into a tornado's path with. The effects were pretty awesome, the music was great (still trying to find the score to this day) and the whole film is just... FUN. This was a good-natured flick that just hit the right notes with me, sappy love story aside. Little funny tidbit... I finally realized that one of the cast, the happy-go-lucky 'Dusty', was played by none other than Philip Seymour Hoffman! MAN! Looking at him then, you'd never think that the guy would go on to play far more serious charaters and roles, from Truman Capote to the cold-blooded Owen Davian in Mission Impossible 3. That's pretty cool.

Man, it was great to just see the flick and reminisce watching it in theaters years ago. Those were the days.

Snake eater

Okay... I just watched the obligatory 'Food Episode' of Man VS WIld. And I have to say... MAN. And I thought the stuff Ian Wright ate way back in the earlier days of Lonely Planet/Globe Trekker were bad. I mean, the stuff that host Bear Gryll scarfs down in the episode are positively FOUL. Forget the usual goat's eyeball or live, wriggling snails or maggots... what REALLY got my hackles up in a bunch was seeing the man tear away at a dead zebra's meat (although the meat was supposedly fresh) and a dead camel's fat. But even more horrid was the hunt for water- how does drinking your own pee sound? The guy does it onscreen- FRESH, WARM PEE. My. God. But it didn't stop there... next Mr. Gryll was squeezing the fluid out of fresh elephant dung. But the worst was, for me, opening up a dead camel and drinking the liquid pooled in the carcass's stomach, and then getting the half-digested clumps of matter in the stomach, then squeezing THAT sludge for drink. GYYYYAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!!

It was horrific and utterly, utterly... fascinating.

I don't think I'd survive in the wild, but damn, you may probably surprise yourself if you were put into that situation. Still, I prefer any raw stuff I eat to be either fruit or sushi, thank you very much. Oddly enough, after watching all that, I suddenly found myself having the munchies. Man, where's a Big Mac where you need one...?

Sobra-sa-Overtime Part... I Lost Count

After a week's straight of overtime at The Salt Mines, here I am still at a TV shoot for the weekend. Man... 7 days straight. Still, there's a twisted sense of accomplishment that I seem to enjoy after all the hubbub of last week. Whatever doesn't kill you just makes you stronger, I guess. But that doesn't mean I won't be demanding to take a break afterwards. Got things to take care of, and rest to catch up on. Nope, you really can't take back lost time... but you can try.

Better Than Six


Now available!

Heeeey! Mangaholix Presents Issue #6 is now out on shelves in National Bookstore, Powerbooks and Fully Booked! So if you want your latest local manga fix, go get your copy. There's a reason for the flowery artwork on the cover- this issue sees the debut of Sampaguita Daydreams (whose characters are actually cosplaying personages from other MH stories) which should please the romantics out there. As usual, it's also brimming with the latest episodes of Chronicles of Hao Ran: Kraust: Ten Roars of the Heavens. Midknighters: Fist-Fight Manifesto, Pulis Pangkalawakan, Aporia and, well, of course, Ninja Girl KO!

Let me give you guys a tip- Mangaholix is found with most of the other comics, and is often places inside deep of NBS or Powerbook branches. If you can't find copies, ask one of the ladies to help find them.

Man, I gotta get my own copy. Can't wait to see the finished art...

Cracking Up

Okay, day by day I'm reading all these complaints with the new iPhone 3G. The most vocal I see on Attack of the Show on G4TV, where the once-iPhone-loving hosts are now loudly castigating Apple for their new iPhones' extremely short battery life, non-working 3G. synching issues, lost apps and other stuff. The most recent issue though is that of cracks- little hairline cracks- appearing supposedly spontaneously on some iPhone 3Gs even though the owners swear they have never dropped or sat on their mobiles. The cracks- which appear often on the white plastic casing, have OC iPhoners up in arms and wanting Apple to take responsibility.

Heh. I remember when the 1st Gen iPhones came out, everyone was raving how they could throw the device around, drop it onto concrete or run blades on the screen without any scratches. Man, I am loving my First-Gen phone more and more each day.

But seriously, I think a lot of this is overreaction, particularly about the cracks. If it does seem to be chronic and widespread, maybe Apple should do something. Still, it seems these cracks are appearing only under the scrutiny of UV light or magnifying glasses- in which case maybe the owner should just take a chill pill.

Then again, if my iPhone got a crack for no reason I'd freak too. Oh well. Such is the price for beauty and coolness.

Superman Retooled

HBO's been showing the Bryan Singer debacle movie Superman Returns a LOT recently, and it really just reinforces what I knew two years ago when I first saw it... it's a load of crap and probably one of the WORST, if not THE worst superhero movie ever made (along with Hulk and Elektra, I guess). Boring, overlong, insanely-obsessed with the Richard Donner original and again, BORING as freaking hell, it just gets all the more horrible in the light of the recent releases of superhero movies done right like Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk and The Dark Knight. Well, it appears that validation has come as well- Warner Brothers has signalled their intention to 'reboot' the franchise, wiping away Superman Returns from existence like Ang Lee's Bulk, er- Hulk and starting anew. Man, I wonder what they will do with all those Brandon Routh-faced dolls and other Superman Returns merchandise? Bury them all in a landfill with those Atari ET videogame cartridges? Anyway, that's all behind us with good stuff like the Avengers and JLA being developed. Oh, and that awesome Watchmen movie too. Let's have enough of small-minded, short-sighted fools with superhero and comic book flicks. Yes, we do want yellow spandex, if the comic requires it.

Ninja Girl KO has a Mega-Fan!

A while ago, I was informed by Mangaholix that Henry Sy, the big boss of Shoemart and one of the richest guys in the country, is a fan of our little mangazine and, particularly, of Ninja Girl KO! Of course, that our comic got the attention of the mall magnate is pretty cool... but that Michiko's adventures are something he likes is even cooler. That actually got me thinking of some weird storyline of how I'd be walking along one day when this big car comes along and I'd be met by a line of SM Girls. They'd take me over to the Main Branch of SM- which turns out to be SM Centerpoint- to meet The Boss Himself. Then I'd sign his copies of Mangaholix and he'd ask me if I'd approve of letting him have his SM Girls' uniforms to be changed to match Michiko's ninja outfit. Heheh.

Just a weird little yarn. Anyways, Ninja Girl KO! continues to Hai-YAH and KIAAAIII in the pages of Mangaholix Presents, with the next issue (Issue 6) coming soon to a National Bookstore near you. I can't wait for readers (Mr. Sy Included) to see the upcoming episodes. Lots more action, laughs and Ninja Girl-powered coolness to come!

New iPhone!

Well, actually... Not really. No, I didn't go running off to the nearest Globe Business Center to grab an iPhone 3G, as did quite a few people who've without a doubt been waiting for the device for some time. To be sure, I did find myself surfing the web for information about the local release of the phone, but even a visit to PhilMUG and seeing some positive comments and experiences shared didn't convince me. For one thing- the phone itself. I've heard not-so-nice things about the new 3G model, from sluggish performance and slow web browsing to the disconcerting change of the phone's back from the original brushed aluminum to either black or white plastic. Also, the biggest and best thing about the new model for me is- well- it's available in 16 Gig memory capacity. 3G doesn't make my eyebrows rise- I mean, why would I be excited by what is basically a way to burn my money away? I'd rather surf or browse on free Wi-Fi spots, and save any actual GPRS surfing use for emergencies. Aside from that... nothing else. No upgrade in the camera. No text-forwarding or MMS. The App Store? Just more ways to squeeze money from you... although the Lightsaber app seemed kinda fun.

No, I wasn't getting the new 3G iPhone. But I DID get something new. I upgraded my iPhone 2G's firmware- from the original 1.0.2 Firmware it shipped with, I've now switched to 1.1.4. What does it do? Well, they're mostly tweaks and small additions, but are quite good- you can now send a text to multiple recipients (FINALLY). Rearranging icons on the screen is now as easy as tapping and holding an icon and then sliding them to where you want them to go- pretty neat, and the OC in me can waste hours away just rearranging apps. There are also new text alert tones and a tweak (third party download) lets me amp up the volume a bit. Nothing world-beating, but they're nice.

One of the more fun things the firmware upgrade allows me is the ability to download more apps again and get my constant gadget companion- which had stagnated in terms of any new stuff lately- refreshed and loaded with new stuff again. Thankfully, the web is alive with the stuff you need to do the upgrade, so I was able to do the deed myself, instead of running off to the highway robbers in Greenhills or elsewhere. So far, my new 1.1.4 version iPhone seems cool- I've installed games and themes, and it's once again mine after a short time of being a blank slate. Man, the OC in me is having a field day again... to the distress of my wallet as I find myself downloading stuff using EDGE. Thanks a lot to the new GPRS-payment scheme with Globe, actually.

On the topic of the new 3G iPhone though, it's supposedly available in most Globe Business Centers, notably in Podium, for even walk-in customers. There have been reservations made, but not every reservation was filled or taken, with fault on both sides of the equation. I am irked to read that Globe puts more value with new accounts and put people like me- loyal customers who already have an account with them- on secondary priority. That's another reason why I'm not getting the phone, at least from Globe. However, it's not a good idea to get it in outside stores either- apparently the device (16 GB) is selling for as high as 55K. MAN! Isn't the damn thing supposed to be cheaper? You can get a freakin' good laptop with that money! Crazy. Even an iPhone fan like me is appalled.

Anyway, that's all to be expected as the device is still new and the rave of the town right now. I'd advise those who can get it free or for lowered price at Globe to do so if they really want the thing, though the Globe iPhone plans are pretty pricey and the prepaid kits quite on the level of higher-end mobiles. I'm just so glad though that I am well past the iPhone craze. I wonder where it will go from here though? It will be interesting to see.

Morpheus and Murder

WHOA! I really haven't been watching CSI: Las Vegas recently, but the show's still a big favorite of mine. It didn't help though that William Petersen's Grissom is leaving the series after being the team's main man all this time, but this little bit of news made me pretty excited. Yep, Laurence Fishburne aka Morpheus from The Matrix is joining the CSI team come the series' 9th Season, airing this November. From movie star to TV star, Fishburne will come on as a pathology professor who starts off being consulted for a murder investigation but is eventually lured into joining the CSI team full-time. Should be pretty interesting! I wonder if there'll be a dojo fight scene or something? Heheh...

Returning to the Source

Having a Blade of the Immortal anime is all well and good... but darn, the manga is where it all started and where you get the whole story, raw, unadulterated and uncensored. Sadly, while I religiously collected the issues years ago, some weird thing with Dark Horse Publishing happened that prevented local distributor Comic Quest from acquiring the title. I was forced to stop, and now I'm pretty much backlogged with my BOTI fixes. Well, that should change pretty soon. I just went and ordered a truckload of graphic novels online, so I'll hopefully be back in the know soon. Ultimately, I think this was all for the best- single issues of BOTI were about as substantial as cotton candy, so it's better to just wait for graphic novel/trade paperbacks to collect the chapters before I dive into a chapter.

It'll take a couple of orders, but I'll have the whole collection eventually. Gosh, I love the internet.

Of Criminals and Conquest

I just watched the first two episodes of the Blade of the Immortal anime. I came away pretty impressed- the animated version of Hiroaki Samura's ultraviolent, sexy samurai revenge epic seems pretty close to the source manga. The art style is close to Samura's lovely pencilled art, and even the action approaches the stylized tableaus of violent death by various bladed weapons. There are some changes- characters like the Mugai Ryu and Habaki Kagimura, personages that figured much later into the manga, are immediately shown even in the first episode. Also, there are some discreet editing of unpleasantness from the more violent and bloody scenes in the manga- such as the death of Manji's sister, Machi. This censorship will no doubt figure more in the future episodes when the more unsavoury bits of Samura's manga are translated. That said though, the series looks like it won't be lacking in fan service, sexy ladies and bloody action in any measure... certainly looks like I'm in for the ride. I just hope this doesn't take as long as the manga to develop though...

OMG! Blade of the Immortal ANIME!


The Immortal Manji. In animation.

Just this night, a bit of surfing let me discover something utterly awesome (well, for me). One of my all-time favorite manga- Hiroaki Samura's ultraviolent punk-samurai epic, Blade of the Immortal- is finally an anime! I've been a bit out of touch with the anime scene of late, but THIS is truly something I've been waiting for, well, FOREVER!

The TV anime series will be animated by Bee Train, which is responsible for the .Hack series and the suspense anime Noir. Seiyuu Tomokazu Seki, famous for roles like Van in Escaflowne, will voice the immortal Manji, while Rina Satou (Negi in Negima) will voice heroine/sidekick Rin Asano. The rest of the voice cast was also announced, and already include characters like Anotsu Kagehisa to Makie Kotono-Tachibana as well as Hyakurin and Giichi.


Revenge-driven Rin Asano.

To date, two episodes are out, and I will be watching them over the weekend. Awesome.

MAN! This is so great. Finally something to get me watching anime again. WOOHOO!!!

Mummy Dearest

Last night, torrential rain forced me to seek shelter in Rockwell Power Plant mall, and to pass the time while waiting for the taxi lines to thin, I headed off to the theaters. I had a choice between Pixar's Wall-E, X-Files: I Want To Believe and Mummy 3: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor. Well, even though I was intrigued with Wall-E, I didn't feel like it was the proper time to watch it, nor did I think I had the patience and state of mind proper for digesting X-Files. In fact, I just wanted to watch Dark Knight again. Ultimately I settled for some dumb, fun action- and opted for Mummy 3.

The Mummy 3: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor is the true sequel to the last real entry into this action-adventure franchise (which was sidetracked by the utterly horrid Scorpion King). The first movie was a classic, surprisingly excellent action-horror hybrid... the second was a more heavy-handed CG-heavy action romp which, while greatly inferior to the original, was still quite fun. And so I went into the third movie expecting little but lots of bang and boom.

The sequel sees Brendan Fraser (who still looks fit, if a bit puffier and a bit hoarser) reprising his role as man-of-action he-man adventurer Rick O'Connell, along with John Hannah as his brother-in-law, fast-talking hustler Jonathan Carnahan. It's a bit of a sad note that most of the other cast do not return this time around. Missing, of course, is Arnold Vosloo as Imhotep the original Mummy (though a nod to the undead Egyptian high priest is present in the movie), since he was last seen being carted off into the underworld by countless tortured souls. Evy O'Connell, Rick's wife and adventuring partner, has been recast with a new actress- Maria Bello, who takes over the character from Rachel Weisz... this 'changing of the guard' is actually pointed at in the script, with Bello's Evy stating that she's 'a whole different person' from the Evy of the previous films. Hmmm. Anyway, there are sad goodbye's and there are happy goodbye's as well- the annoying kid from Mummy 2 (okay, he wasn't THAT annoying but still) is gone, as the character of Rick and Evy's son Alex is now 21 years old, and played by actor Luke Ford. Oh, and Oded Fehr's not around since the movie's mainly set in China and Tibet. Tuareg warriors would kinda seem out of place, I guess.

Shades of Mr. and Mrs. Smith, Rick and Evy O'Connell are 'enjoying' the fruits of their long careers- apparently saving the world from an evil mummy and the Army of Anubis wasn't enough for the intrepid husband and wife... they had to go off and become espionage agents during the war (the movie is set in the 1940s, after World War II). With a beautiful palatial estate and servants, all Rick has to contend with is learning fly-fishing, while Evy has to deal with writing her next best-selling novel. But it appears that success has it's price- both are plainly wanting to get their blood fired up again, and the life of the idle rich isn't going to do that any good. And so, as if on cue, we see Alex O'Connell, now freshly-dropped out of college and following in his parents' dubious footsteps as an archaeologist and tomb pillager. The kid's got a chip on his shoulder- mainly the need to prove he's as much a man as his dad- and he's thinking that discovering another mummy is the thing to do it.

Anyway, this time around the Mummy in question isn't from Egypt. As if in line with the Beijing Olympics and the current China craze on Discovery Channel, the magical heavy is Emperor Han (Jet Li), a fictional ruler apparently juxtaposed with the real Emperor Chin who unified China and built the Great Wall. As cruel as the real Chin was, Jet Li's Han comes with Elemental Powers that would do the Avatar proud, as well as a Terra Cotta Army to resurrect. And so, with the inevitable awakening of the evil Dragon Emperor by the O'Connells through the manipulation of a Chinese paramilitary group dedicated to serving Han and returning him to power, the battle begins. Rick, Evy, Alex and Jonathan, along with a mysterious girl named Lin (Isabella Leong) and the immortal sorceress Zi Yuan (Michelle Yuan) struggle to keep the world safe from the thud of Terra-Cotta boots.

The Mummy 3 isn't that far-off from Mummy 2- with all that this entails. It's still got some cool action, lots of explosions and gunplay, nice CG (and bad CG too) and a BIG battle sequence at the end (which kinda beats out the finale in Mummy 2).

Brendan Fraser's the heart and soul of this franchise, now even more with Rachel Weisz gone, along with John Hannah (who is sadly a bit lacking for this one, though that's probably the fault of the script). Even though he's not as trim as he was in the first film, he's still pretty much a solid action guy. Maria Bello is pretty, but darn- Rachel Weisz is a tough act to follow. However, the weird transformation of Evy from the first to the second film made accepting this new incarnation not that hard. She's still a kick-ass adventurer as well as a prim and proper lady, so that at least gets it right. As for new boy Alex- I'm not that fine into how Alex is being groomed as another action guy like his dad. I figured him more of a brainy type, as his younger self was. Clever and quick-thinking, more brains than brawn. He should be able to shoot and fight, but all that heavy stuff is Rick's territory. And the guy, Luke Ford, kinda looks like a Wahlberg. Not a minus, but it's weird.

And then there's the Asian cast- Jet Li, once again, is underused. Emperor Han is just a mean guy, and that's all there is to him. Much more interesting actually are the modern-day paramilitary group that throws their loyalty to him. Michelle Yeoh, as the sorceress Zi Yuan, is getting along in years, but still as classy as ever. The Chinese Paramilitary Cult, led by General Yang (Anthony Wong Chau-Sang) and his lieutenant Choi (Jessey Meng) are portrayed in some ways as ruthless enemies but also with admirable qualities of loyalty and courage... albeit misplaced, given that the object of their worship and servitude is a self-serving son of a dragon bitch.

For the most part, the production is slick and is in line with the rest of the Mummy franchise, with lots of pretty locales and settings, cool guns and lots of firepower, and a kick-ass battle at the end to mix it all up. It's probably a bit better than the Mummy 2, although the second movie had sexy chicks fighting with sais, and this does not.

So, what's next? Incan Mummies? How about the Hanging Mummies here in the Philippines? Heh. Well, supposedly there are plans for more Mummy movies to come so we'll be waiting.

In the end, Mummy 3 is an enjoyable action flick- at the very least, I actually enjoyed it a bit more than I did the last Indiana Jones flick- which is more a testament of how low Crystal Skull fell from the tree. You can do a lot worse than this for some escapist entertainment, and if you're a fan of the series it's something to see. Check it out! Mummy 3: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor is now showing in theaters all over the Metro.