Dead or Alive Xtreme Beach Volleyball Review


A vacation with the ladies of Dead or Alive? Count me in!

Anyone who has been reading my blog will probably know that I am a humongous fan of the Dead or Alive fighting game series, so it should come with no surprise that I have been waiting for the bizarre, sexy spin-off ever since it was first announced last year. Much of the fame (and infamy) of the DOA series stems from it’s cast of lovely lady fighters, and of course their bouncy breast action. So it was only natural for a game that exclusively stars the DOA babes to appear. The odd thing is that DOAX is not a fighting game, but a volleyball game. Scratch that- it’s a volleyball sim/dating sim /RPG/girlwatching game… something that I think has NEVER appeared before in the history of gaming. Leave it to the DOA series to start a trend, eh?
The story behind DOAX is pretty far out; Zack, one of the male DOA fighters, breaks the bank at a casino after Dead or Alive 3. He uses his newfound wealth to buy himself an island paradise, naming the place Zack Island. He then presumptuously declares it the setting for the next DOA fighting tournament. Invitations are sent out and soon, the competitors start arriving. Two things become apparent; one, only the women were invited, and two, there isn’t any tournament at all. So now, the beautiful ladies of DOA are stuck on a remote island paradise with Zack obviously watching them pleasurably from the sidelines. So, what do the girls do? They start wearing their sexiest swimsuits and get down to having some serious RnR, of course! Soon, heated matches of beach volleyball begin, with Zack supplying tons of cash for the winners. Teams start coming together between the normally-hostile rivals, and a new round of battles- this time on the volleyball courts- begin.

The funny thing is, while the game may be called DOA Volleyball, the actual sport element isn’t the only thing you can do in the game. In fact, the bulk of what will occupy players (at least in the main single-player Go To Zack Island mode) will be seeing their chosen DOA girl through her two week vacation, making friends among the other DOA girls, shopping for new bikinis, accessories and other items at the island stores for herself or for others, gambling at the casino and generally playing virtual swimsuit model for the player.
Adding color to the relationships is that several of the girls hate each others' guts, and are more used to striking each others' faces than volleyballs. The relationship-management game, where you try to overcome the girls’ natural hostility to each other, is quite compelling and entertaining, though it is really just a glorified “match an item to the correct girl” kind of thing. However, the presentation is nicely done, with well-acted voice samples (in Japanese with English subtitles) communicating the girls’ personalities quite excellently.
And you will have to master the relationship game since only a strong, closely-bonded team will perform well on the volleyball court. You only have direct control over your chosen main character, while your partner is CPU controlled. If your partner isn’t at her happiest, she will be prone to letting balls pass her by without nary a care. To remedy this, you will have to continually give her presents such as her favorite dessert, swimsuits and accessories in her favorite colors and so forth. Talk about high maintenace.
Anyway, DOAX’s volleyball engine is simple enough to pick up and play, but is fast, fun and addictive. It really helps that the animation and physics are quite good, with reactions to the ball and the various spikes, digs and dives looking quite excellent. Ambient animations like the girls’ adjusting their bikinis or limbering up before and after a match add to the game’s visual charm.

Of course, visual charm is what this game is all about. Frequently you will be given chances to just observe (okay, ogle would be the better word) the DOA girls as they lounge around the poolside, practice their martial arts, exercise or just plain hang around Zack Island’s venues. During these exquisitely-animated sequences, you have extensive control over the camera, so you can look over the girls’ physiques more… um… intimately. As testament to Team Ninja’s mastery of the female form, DOAX’s character models are some of the most gorgeous yet seen in videogames. Fans of eye candy, this game may give you diabetes.
For all this, DOAX is really just harmless, juvenile fun; more Baywatch and Swimsuit Illustrated in videogame form rather than anything else. There is no real nudity or sex; just tons of cheesecake, fan service and innuendo which, thanks to outstanding graphics, production values and addictive gameplay, lets the game retain class where other titles just devolve into crass. In particular, fans of the series get to see their favorite videogame vixens interact in a wholly new and different genre, giving welcome depth to some well-known but enigmatic characters.
Any flaws? The volleyball engine may be too simplistic for hardcore sports enthusiasts, along with the lack of alternate play modes, tournaments or even four-player modes. The animations of the girls, while many, may get repetitive eventually, with only changes in swimwear to add something new (though there are literally hundreds of bikinis to unlock). The soundtrack, which is a cheesy mix of Pop and Reggae, may have you squealing… good thing you can substitute your own CD music thanks to the Xbox CD ripper option.

So what do we have in the end? A simple, easy-to-play but solid volleyball game with gorgeous character models. A collection game with literally hundreds of alternate swimsuits, accessories and items to unlock. An oddly compelling relationship-dating sim game that will bring to mind ‘Temptation Island’ crossed with Victoria Secret. And of course, there are some gambling minigames to squander your hard-earned cash to round things off nicely.
Perhaps DOA Xtreme Beach Vacation or DOA Xtreme Babe Voyeurism would be more apt for this game. As a whole though, DOAX is an entertaining, inexplicably addictive bit of relaxing, juvenile fun that Xbox owners will want to take a peek at.
And it’s probably the sexiest and cheapest beach vacation with gorgeous babes you’ll ever find. Heh.


Mmmm I feel sooo relaxed... if only I could get rid of that nagging feeling that I'm being watched...

The Carver's House now open for business.

Speaking of new blogs, my good friend and compatriot in the comics field, Carl Vergara, finally has a blog! Check out The Carver's House for a look into the life and mind of a very talented artist and multi-faceted personality. Go, Carl!

Wow! I have a blog!

Heh. Checked Blogger.com's homepage and saw STARK RAVING MAD on the list of recently-published blogs. Wow. Haven't I been doing this thing since September last year? Wow. Holy Backlog, Batman... Heh.

The Weekender Report

After a long week of work, I thankfully sank into the bliss of a restful weekend. Friday night I had dinner with the Mike, Dean, Gig and Carl at a restaurant named Basilique near Pearl Drive. Mike’s been recommending that place forever but we’ve always resisted going there… until tonight. We were all apparently quite tired so we just went along without resistance. That was a mistake, of course, since the food turned out to be not special and exceptionally expensive. I ordered something called Chicken Nikolai; basically fried chicken with mashed potatoes and gravy which cost about two hundred pesos. I would have been better off buying a two-piece chicken meal at KFC. BAH.
The next day I spent most of the daylight hours hard playing my new Xbox acquisition, Dead or Alive Xtreme Beach Volleyball. I’ll post my review on this sexy sports/dating sim/girlwatching videogame very soon. Was it worth all the wait and posts here on the blog? Well, suffice to say that when I finally realized I had to go out, it was already six in the evening. I had to forego my weekly trek to Greenhills and go straight to Megamall. There, we idled away our time as we waited for the store to close so we could meet up with Dean and Gig later. Along with us was Noel ‘Flim’ Lim who had a bit of déjà vu since he and Mike went out a lot years ago. After closing Comic Quest, we decided on having dinner at North Park. We had our usual orders: salted fish fried rice, spareribs, garlic squid and of course, my favorite ‘gwailo’ food, sweet and sour pork. Heh. Along with the good food came good conversation and lots of laughs as Dean regaled us with his experiences and travails as an artist dealing with ‘artistes’.
We eventually transplanted to Country Waffles and stayed there until the staff pretty much threw us out at 2 AM. Apparently, the no longer operate 24 hours. Hard times. Oh well.
Today, I finally went out to Greenhills and came back with some picks: DVDs of Shaolin Soccer, Femme Fatale (the questionable thriller starring Rebecca Romjin-Stamos and Antonio Banderas) and Simone (the Al Pacino-starrer about a virtual actress). Lastly, I was able to get a copy of the new Xbox shooter, Panzer Dragoon Orta, which looks great. I almost got a copy of Jet Li’s Hero, but not quite. The film’s showing this week, so maybe I’ll catch it with Mike and Dean at the theaters before getting a home copy.

That’s that. I should end the day by trying to draw some more art and pages for several comic projects, then finish it all up by trying to write my DOAX review. The weekend’s over once again and I hit the salt mines early tomorrow. Ah, life. Nothing like it. Heh.

I HAVE IT!!! I HAVE IT!!! MAHAHAHAHAHAA!!!!


DOAX is now in my hands... (Note: Photo not of my actual hand or game copy)

YES! After an annoyingly long wait and several delays, I finally got my grubby paws on a copy of Dead or Alive Xtreme Beach Volleyball, or DOAX. This sexy spin-off from the popular Dead or Alive fighting game series stars all the lovely female fighters and none of the men, so this is made specially for male DOA fans. The premise is that the ladies were tricked into coming to a tropical paradise for the next martial arts tournament. What they find however, is nothing more than a convenient excuse to have them dress down to the bare essentials and prepare for a serious bit of bikini-clad action on the volleyball courts. So far, I've logged almost ten hours of play, so I guess I can venture a review very soon. Was it worth the wait? Is it the next gaming masterpiece? Or is it just a Baywatch episode or an issue of Swimsuit Animated magazine? Find out my thoughts soon...

All Your Bandwidth Are Belong To Us

Regulars may probably have noticed that we were down for the past couple of days. This was due to my homepage, angelace.com, being shut down due to excessive traffic bandwidth. How THAT ever happened is beyond me... I mean, nobody goes there, right..? Heh. Anyway, i'ts a new month and we have a fresh new GIG of traffic to feed on. Let's hope nothing like this happens again... hope, hope.

Working for Food

During those times when you're forced to be a grown-up and take responsibility, when you must put others' interests before your own, when you have to do freaky OVERTIME... there's only one thing to look forward to... Free food. Over my years in advertising I've gone through many night sieges and stakeouts... I've had quite a lot of delivery food. North Park for Chinese food; love those crispy cone-shaped dumplings with the red sauce. Singkit or World Topps for rice meals; I really like those paper containers that give it an authentic Chinese takeout feel. Then there's of course Yellow Cab for pizza; big discs of yummy toppings that go down great with ice-cold Mountain Dew. Just no anchovies please. Never accept McDo or Jollibee for overtime food. That's TABOO.
This night we had a classic and a never-fail-order... A bucket of Kentucky Fried Chicken. Hot and crispy and smothered with gravy and all the rice I could eat. Crunchy skin, tender meat, spiced to perfection so much that I have to recall those rumors of The Colonel putting some secret addictive ingredient into the chicken. Heh.
Sigh. Will finish in a while, I hope. Got to get home soon... get some shut-eye since work continues tomorrow... but not after some payback time. Heh.

We Don't Need Another Hero...

WAAAAAHHHH!!!!
I should be at Megamall right now, getting ready to watch the premiere of the new Hong Kong period action/fantasy/martial arts epic Hero, which stars Jet Li, Zhang Ziyi, Maggie Cheung and Tony Leung.
Instead, I am stuck at work doing overtime. AAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!!! There is no justice in this world.

Bah. I'll just catch it on DVD.

Matrix Reloaded Superbowl trailer LOVE!

I just saw the Superbowl trailer of Matrix Reloaded. All I can say is... WOW! You've got some more scenes of real world events as we see the human city of Zion. There's a great scene of a car chase on a freeway where an agent leaps onto a speeding car, SMASHING it like it was made of paper. Then there's the return of Hugo Weaving as Agent Smiths (yes, that's 'Smiths' as in lots... apparently Weaving's stint as Elrond the elflord gave him magic... Smith can now duplicate himself). There's a scene with Neo battling dozens of Agent Smiths with a pole that is reminiscent of large battle scenes from Jet Li's Once Upon A Time In China films. Then there are scenes with Trinity, Neo flying through the city and... it ENDS. Darn. Go see it yourself at the the official site.

A Little Catch

I was able to sneak in a jaunt to Megamall and score a couple of game picks: the Xbox Shenmue 2 and Dynasty Warriors 3: Xtreme Legends for the PS2. Both are improved versions of previous installments, so I thought I'd try them out. I was able to successfully give in the KC Strange pages; I also got to look at the pages from Arnold, Jason and Mike. Looks great! This second issue of Ab Ovo (the comic thing where all of our stuff will be appearing) looks to be even better than the first one. Can't wait to see it next month.

KC Strange


Here's a sample of the KC Strange story coming out next month...

I DID IT!
Finished the 4 pages of KC Strange! Now it's all a matter of delivering it later today. The adventures of the feisty and attractive paranormal investigator are quite fun to do. I hope this isn't the last time I get to draw her. Who knows what can be possible in the future though? Anyway, with KC finished, I can move back to doing Angel Ace and other stuff. This week's looking to be very busy though. Will just have to hope everything goes well. DAMN! It's THREE O' CLOCK ALREADY?!?!

Star Carrot

I worked on the KC Strange pages since after lunch, fully prepared to spend the rest of the day in the house. Unfortunately (or fortunately, I guess), I realized that I had no more CD-Rs in the house. Since submission was tomorrow, I had to go out and buy some. I decided against going to Megamall or Greenhills since I would inevitably be sidetracked. Heh. So I opted instead to go the opposite direction: East, towards Sta. Lucia East mall.
Well, as I rode the bus towards the more... provincial... place, I suddenly realized how long it has been since I went there; there was a whole MALL that I had never seen before! It was Robinson's Place East, and I decided to check it out. Oh well, it was your average small mall; lots of fast food places (the requisite McDo, Jollibee, Greenwich combos), clothing shops, sports and furniture and odds and ends. In other words, useless to me. There was a Gamelandia and an Astrovision, which had little to no games of note. The only computer shop didn't have the brand of CD-R I trusted. Sigh.
I got hungry after a bit, and for some reason I decided to try a steak place named Star Carrot. Yep, Star Carrot. It boasted a menu of 'pepper' meats; pepper steak, pepper pork, pepper beef, pepper chicken... all of which served to you sizzling on a small skillet. Maybe I took pity since there was NO ONE else in there, so I sat down and ordered the Pepper Sirloin and an order of Caesar Salad. Yep, Caesar Salad.
Well, the Sirloin came, and it was of average size, coming with some corn on the side and garnishings of a few mushrooms and star-shaped carrot slices (where the place got it's name, of course). But what made me bristle was the size of the RICE. Unlike 99 percent of all eateries which served rice in cup-mold form, they serve it flattened on a wide plate... the serving looked PUNY. Were they serious??? Well, they were since the waiter just served it to me and then stood back. I shrugged and started eating. The steak was pretty good, and was tender and had a distinct pepper taste. The corn was good and ripe too. However, I had to order extra rice (which they served only after I finished the first serving). The side soup was good, but the CAESAR SALAD turned out to be lettuce, CUCUMBER and tomato with almost tasteless Caesar dressing- Shakey's Mojos with Caesar dip tasted more like Caesar's Salad than that tripe. Bah.
Anyway, the steak was fair but these people have nothing on Steak Joint. Horribly puny rice serving and bad Caesar Salad... I fear for their future...
I finally headed to Sta. Lucia, and after some wandering I found a Columbia computer shop and got some more CD-Rs. After getting lost a bit (It's been awhile) I got onto a jeep for home.

Should finish KC Strange tonight, and I guess I will have to leave it at Comic Quest at noon or leave the office early evening. Have work ahead of me yet this night...

Today's Agenda...

I plan to head for this afternoon on my usual expedition. Who knows, I may find GOLD in the Philippines... On the gaming side, I'm quite fixated on DOAX so I don't expect any other game to catch my eye unless I see bikinis; I saw Panzer Dragoon Orta at Toy Kingdom last night, but I just couldn't stomach dropping almost 4K for a shooter (albeit a highly-rated one) game. I have to say the main draw of this for me are the cinematics and Orta's story. Maybe I should pass on that one. I will try to look for neat new DVDs and stuff, or maybe even a copy of DOAX if it suddenly shows up. I might have to pass on a prolonged evening outside though; need time to do my requirements, namely KC Strange for Dean and Nikki. But who knows what I can slip in today...

The Week Ends...

This whole week I've been working and trying to just get by depsite having the knowledge that DOA fans like myself in the US are playing the latest DOA game ahead of me. AAAAARRRGGGHHHH!!! Sigh. The game is all the rage across various gaming sites and forums, despite pathetic attempts by forum trolls to try and killjoy their way into the countless discussions on what's the sexiest bikini or how you can get a DOA girl to team up with you. Darn. Well, I'm hoping to get a copy sometime next week. We'll see...
Anyway, I had lunch out today with some officemates again, which seems to be turning into a nice tradition. Instead of a high-profile fancy-pants joint like MYLK though, this time we just had chow at the Glorietta 3 Foodcenter. I had a nice Katsudon and California Maki from a Japanese restaurant named Shin Kanzen (apparently named after the bullet train). The neat thing about the design of the stand is that it seems to be made to look like a Japanese train station (I think that Dean will probably get a chill of fear out of that. Heh), and there are even models of Japanese trains on display. Cool.
Anyway, we had a nice lunch and I told the girls all about what will happen to the LOTR cast in The Return of The King, based on the books and the animated films. I tried not to give away major spoilers and stressed on how Peter Jackson's final film would probably be very different in execution. That made me think of course of how ROTK will eventually be. Darn. One year away... Sigh.
Will be a bit busy this weekend; have to finish the KC Strange pages as well as start a new project and continue Angel Ace. No rest and no time for gaming... good thing too... I get DOAX next week. Heh.

My precious...


Sexy volleyball-vacation sim DOAX is now in US stores.

Right now, at this very moment, gamer dudes all over the US are enjoying the newly-released Dead or Alive Xtreme Beach Volleyball for the Xbox. The game was released yesterday and is now trickling into stores. Reviews are beginning to appear on major gaming sites as well; IGNXbox gave the game a flying colors score of 9.2 out of 10, while Gamepro gave it a hearty 4.5 of 5. Gamers.com gave it an 8/10, similar to the recent GMR magazine score. A curveball review comes from Gamespot, which gave the game a 6/10. However, in general, remarks point to a game that boasts gorgeous visuals, a simple but surprisingly addictive volleyball engine, tons of extras and eye candy up the wazoo.
Of course, it will take a bit of time for a copy to make it's way here, but we're doing our darndest to get one ASAP... Expect a review then...

Leader under Fire

I learned an interesting tidbit on LOTR last night from Arnold Arre; Actor Bernard Hill, who played the noble King Theoden of Rohan in The Two Towers, also played the doomed Captain Smith in the James Cameron blockbuster, Titanic. Quite interesting; he looked a LOT older and less formidable in Titanic... well then, he was a ship's captain facing dishonor and an iceberg. In TTT, he's a formidable warrior king facing an army of 10,000 rabid Uruk-Hai. Cool. Plus both TTT and T were blockbusters. Perhaps the dignified Hill is a lucky charm for films where he appears in? Heh.


Captain Smith of the Titanic, King Theoden of Rohan. Actor Bernard Hill seems to fit very well in roles of embattled leaders.

A Long-Awaited Party

Last night, I finished off a long day with a night in a rented condo in Ortigas with the gang. It was a joint birthday celebration for both Mike and Carl, and lo, the whole gang was there. Even Arnold and Cynthia were able to make it, so it was a cool time. I arrived a bit late so the food was kinda cold and half-eaten but I was so hungry the single piece of cold KFC chicken I ate tasted even better than that ostrich meat salpicao I paid over 300 for at MYLK in Greenbelt 3. Later, we played games of Apples To Apples (which is all about word/phrase association) and Cranium (Intellectual/creative competitive race game). Amidst all this, Arnold and I kept mouthing out various quotes from the Lord of the Rings movies at random. Heh. Later, there was an odd pastry/cake called Brazo de Mercedes with indelible blue icing that Arn and Cyn brought... odd but yummy. Also, Carl brought steamed oysters. Which I didn't eat though. I was pretty tired but me and Carl still managed to win a close Cranium game. Nice one!
The night ended for us a little after midnight since work was still on for tomorrow, but Mike, Carl, Ralph, Jason and Cams stayed overnight. Great stuff. Happy Birthday, Mike and Carl!

DOAX released today.


Fighting girls go on vacation!

Dead or Alive Xtreme Beach Volleyball, or DOAX, is released today in the US! Of course, that isn't for another 12 or so hours since we're in Manila, but what the hey! We've been waiting for this game for over a year, so you can't blame us for being impatient! TV spots of the game are already making the rounds on US television, featuring sexy footage from the game along with a gang of gaping youths whose eyes are positively glued to the screen. That's actually an improvement over their yucky 'She kicks high' ad for Dead or Alive 3 last year... at least now they're not insulting their target market. Also, the official site has been launched, so it appears that the seemingly endless delays that plagued the game since November of last year are now over. This game is arriving on top of a wave of hype, with DOA fans in both the US and Japan getting the game almost at the same time. For the record, this game will probably sell at a 1:1 ratio with Xbox in Japan... that's how popular it is there in the Land of the Rising Sun! Many are even saying this game may just revive Xbox's prospects in Japan... we'll see...
Anyway, on the local front, we're expecting copies of the game to arrive here perhaps in a few days or maybe even a week or so... who knows? But judging from the hype of this game with Pinoy Xbox owners, gameshops here will surely stock up on the title.

Well, that's that. It's almost four and I am still awake. Probably that extra-heavy coffee I drank yesterday afternoon and the glasses of Coke I had a while ago. Go figure. Heh.

The Return of the Return of the King (Animation)

I was walking around Glorietta during lunch when I saw the old Rankin Bass version of The Return of the King playing on a widescreen TV in one of the shops. It's just as I remembered it, with the very cartoony art style (orcs and goblins actually looked kinda cute). The part I saw was during the siege of Minas Tirith, with a huge battering ram being brought into play against the gate as the Witch King of Angband (the leader of the Nine Ringwraiths and the one that skewered Frodo in Fellowship) arrived. It amazes me how much I see Ian McKellen in Gandalf and even Elijah Wood in Frodo now, and how even the cartoon versions reflect the present movie cast. Great casting... I wonder if the LOTR crew looked at the Rankin Bass animations as well in their research?
I remember that aside from the animated LOTR by Ralph Bakshi (the one with weird rotoscoped animation), there was never any Two Towers cartoon. I know that the Bakshi feature encompassed quite a bit of TTT, from the start of the quest to the Battle of Helm's Deep. The Rankin Bass Return of the King is a favorite of mine since the action is pretty cool.
I wonder now how the ROTK movie will handle Minas Tirith, Pelennor Fields, the Tower of the Teeth, the Black Fleet, Shelob and the finale? Can it all fit in just three hours? Boggles the mind, but from what Fellowship and Two Towers has shown us, the crew behind the LOTR trilogy is up to the task.
I know of one shop in Greenhills that sells VCDs of ROTK. I wonder if I should get it? Just to tide me over before the finale of Peter Jackson's trilogy hits next year... Next year... NEXT YEAR.... AAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!

Sunday Punch

Yesterday I went to Greenhills and got myself a bunch of knick-knacks; clear DVD copies of The Ring and The Two Towers, a couple of Xbox games (Hunter the Reckoning and Crimson Sea). Yes, now I can watch TTT at any time, with a super-clear home copy. The video quality is the same as the bootleg Fellowship DVD last year, with somewhat uneven sound though. It's great though at a certain part there seems to be some glitching; still watchable though. Plus, of course, at some points a 'for your consideration' subtitle appears onscreen, leading me to believe that this bootleg was copied from a review copy sent out for Oscar voting/nominations.
As for The Ring (US version) DVD, it wasn't as crisp as the TTT disc, but it was clear. Plus, there is a glaring 'Property of...' subtitle onscreen the whole time. Oh well. Anyway, I plan to buy both titles on original DVD since I like them pretty much.
Later in the night, my friend Pot came and we ordered Pizza Hut. There was a cool promo which gave us two servings of spaghetti, a family-size Super Supreme pizza, a bottle of Pepsi Twist and a container of 4 chocolate heart desserts. Mmmm. We played The Ring dvd as we ate, but we eventually turned it off since Pot was bored to death with the pace of the story; the only good thing he saw was the fact that the actresses in the film were simply gorgeous. Heh.
I spent the rest of the night fiddling with my computer, loading programs and later surfing. I sketched out some panels for the 4-page KC Strange comic, which is due this weekend. Ah, work looms once again. Bring it.

Lara Croft Returns!


Lara Croft is getting ready for a new adventure...

Did anyone here love the Tomb Raider movie starring Angelina Jolie? I mean, it had it's flaws... okay, it was a boring story with a few but far-too-sparse action sequences, but I have to say Angelina is a goddess. I really can't comment on her english accent, but she was gorgeous. She's recognizable as who she is since she's a relatively big star, but she was able to stamp her imprint on the character, so when I see her we can say, 'It's Lara Croft', and not 'It's Angelina Jolie as Lara Croft!'... Hmm... Okay, she has the full lips of the videogame vixen, at least. Heh.
Anyway, despite the shortcomings, Tomb Raider was a hit, so a sequel is in the works. It has actually been in production for some time, with location shoots in the Mediterranean, Greece and even Hong Kong. Plot details on this second adventure are scarce, though the subtitle Cradle of Life has been added to the Tomb Raider 2 name. The movie will co-star Djimon Hounsou (who played Maximus' friend and ally in Gladiator).
As for Miss Jolie, she's reportedly looking as fine and trim as ever, though reportedly she's going for a healthier, curvier and slightly fuller physique for Lara (and judging from the photo above, I can believe that). Which is a bit of a deviation from the toothpick-limbed videogame character. But I like it. Heh. Anyway, TR2 is set for a July 25 release... trailers are said to hit the Net in the next couple of weeks.

Once Again, Into the Breach...

Last night, I watched The Two Towers for the fourth and probably my last time in the theaters (I've watched it with all of my close friends). This means that the next several times I watch it will be on DVD. Heh. Anyway, Mike, me and Emrys had a chat about TTT afterwards at Country Waffles, basically stating the film's flaws and differences from the book. Overall though, we all agreed it was a fine movie and just made us more excited to see MORE. Darn, one year to The Return of the King. Sigh. Well, moving on, moving on...
Finally got my new Epson 660 scanner installed, and as promised the process was painless. I can finally do computer artwork again, so I will have to rush headlong into projects that were delayed by the technical downtime I had last week. I can finally get all this tech stuff and frustration behind me and get on with my life. Ah.

I Am Alive Again.

Yahoo! The new modem works perfectly... even better than the outdated, weird internal modem in my old computer. Lovely! Lovely! Hahahahahahaha! Ahhh...
Anyway, what's in for today? I will be staying at home for a while, probably to think out the KC Strange comic pages, whose deadline has been moved up a bit. I will also have to work on some other stuff. I think I will have to postpone a trip to Greenhills... hey, is that thunder? Hmm.... probably just my imagination, but the sky darkened... anyway... Oh, yeah. I will have to postpone my weekly trip to Greenhills and stay home until late afternoon, when I go to Megamall. Gotta look for a new scanner. Plus, the fifth box set of the Inu Yasha anime series should be available for me today... which is amazing since I actually haven't watched the fourth box fully. Amazing. That will be great. Later tonight we're set to watch The Two Towers with Mike after closing down the shop. It will be my fourth watch of Peter Jackson's second part of his epic movie, Lord of the Rings. Three hours, and I still want to see it. This should be a fun weekend, and restful too. On other fronts, my long-awaited Dead or Alive Xtreme Beach Volleyball for the Xbox is set for release in the US next week. Of course, it will probably take a bit for a copy to appear here in Manila, but I will be checking the game shelves for it come Monday. Heh. It's nice to have things to look forward to... no matter how petty or silly. It's what we live for. What makes us glad to be doing stuff and just being us.
Happy Weekend, everyone. The world is at our oyster! Heh.

The Thing is POSSESSED!!!

I came home after an evening at Chili's with the gang. It was kind of late but luckily my brother, Jun, was still awake. I needed his help to install my new modem. The current on, a Smartlink modem, had been totally unusable these past few days. I literally could not load even my homepage. Nothing. Nada. So it was with considerable surprise that I saw Jun log on and then proceed to surf on various image-heavy pages with startling quickness. WHAT THE HELL?
I surfed myself. I went to other pages loaded with pics. I tried downloading a Quicktime video. I went on large pics. It went smooth as 56k silk. DAMN! What was going on? How come in the past two days this thing acted like crap... then suddenly when Jun arrived, it was all peachy? So when my brother left, I thought of something. I disconnected the connection and started again.
It was molasses slow once more. Was I right? Was the damn modem playing around with me? Was it showing it's good work only when my brother was around? I watched the slow count of bits. The page would NOT load. I called my brother again to come to look.
I swear this is true: The moment he stepped into the room, the damn page LOADED. The thing was working fine again. FREAKY!!!!

Well, that was the last straw. I had Jun take out the possessed modem and slip in the new one. I didn't need this kind of madness. So far, the new one works well, and at least one problem has been taken care of. BAH! Now... what will I do with the stupid, capricious Smartlink monster? Take it back, or just smash the thing with that staff Jason gave me...?

A Taste of MYLK

Today I had lunch with several of my lady officemates at Greenbelt 3 (Hmm. Yet another 'power dining' foray). From the large repertoire of posh gourmet restaurants on offer, we eventually chose to dine at MYLK (the name is apparently from the acronym MY Little Kitchen). The place has a really classy 1940s American gourmet restaurant look, with large mirrors on the walls, black and white furniture, and bottles of wine and Chianti on the tables. I half-expected a Warren Beatty-esque gangster in a three-piece suit to come along and get gunned down at any moment. Anyway, what actually drew me into the place was the chef's special- Ostrich Meat. Now how did they manage that? Well, there were three available ways to have your big bird: as a salad, or as one of two main-course preps. I chose the second, which had the meat cooked ala salpicao (tender strips with sauce) on mushroom rice.
When it finally came, I was kinda surprised at how... um... puny the amount of rice was. The meat was pretty abundant though. Anyway, I bit into the saucy morsels and found out that... ostrich meat tastes just like beef. Yes. If you told me I was eating beef, I would not have known the difference. No special texture. No special aroma. No aftertaste. I can't really say if I was disappointed or not... I wouldn't have wanted it to taste weird, but at the very least I wanted ostrich to taste like something that would make me say, 'Say, that DOES taste like ostrich." It should have, for the price I paid. Sheesh.
Anyway, overall it was a nice lunch with nice conversation and ambience. A good way to spend a Friday afternoon. Cue in nice American Jazz music here.

Thus Endeth the Week

Last night, we went out after work with our Indonesian mates to watch The Two Towers at Power Plant Mall in Rockwell. We had dinner at Cibo which I described as 'power-dining' to the consternation of my CD (who eats there often). The thing is, the food's looks fancy but frankly, I prefer steak at Sizzler. It was infuriating to have slivers of tenderloin and not have gravy. Well, it WAS Italian after all... Anyway, we ate a fast dinner with our friends from Jakarta, and discovered to our amazement that Indonesians DO NOT EAT DINNER. They don't eat sweets, either! WOW! Then again, that was probably just the one guy... Heh. Of course, we had a laugh over this. Seriously though, it was nice to discover that we share many words in Filipino with Indonesia (Sayang, Kambing). Not surprising since our Indon friends Bambi and Vita could almost pass for Pinoys anyway.
Anyway, owing to the fact that the wall clock at Cibo was a bit late (unforgiveable seeing that the darn thing was bigger than most WALLS), we had to rush off to the movie and entered missing about five to ten minutes. Oh well...
Even though I had seen it twice before, The Two Towers is still a marvelous watch, and I am raring to watch again (as it was with Fellowship of the Ring)... something I did not feel with any of the new Star Wars flicks. One of my officemates was so moved by TTT, she was literally in tears as we left the theater. I have to admit, the movie has some really dramatic points, and even though it was flawed, Peter Jackson's middle part to his 9+ hour LOTR movie is a success.
I have to say I'm not easily moved by film. I can probably count on a hand the times that a film has made my eyes water. In fact, I remember that one film that actually made a tear roll down my cheek... Rocky V. Yep. Weird, eh? It was that flashback-memory scene of Rocky and his manager Mickey (played by Burgess Meredith) that did it. Watch it yourself if you want to see what can make a Madman cry. Heh. It will scare you. Hahahahaha...
Anyway, the week is almost done. There are a few kinks here and there, but I seem to be weathering it out. Got a new modem which hopefully will give me back decent to good net capability at home once I actually get it installed. I will get a new scanner over the weekend as well, so I can finally get back to doing art and comic pages.
Hah. Mopping up, mopping up...

Fusion Cuisine

Yesterday as part of the work thing with the regional crew, we ate out at the new Greenbelt 3 Mall. The restaurant we went to was Uvo, which specializes in power-dining, fusion food. Fusion is apparently this kind of New Age cooking which uses unusual combinations of foods and ingredients. Not really my cup of tea. The most memorable thing for me there is the Mashed Potatoes, which at 600+ pesos is easily the most expensive mashed potato meal ever. Well, I guess the price is justified because the meal comes with Black Angus steak on the side. Heh.
Anyway, this is the last day of this regional thing, so by tomorrow I should be back to the usual scheme of things. I will be looking for a new modem since the Smartlink 56k modem I got recently is CRAP. Also need a new USB scanner. Sigh. I have a lot of catching up to do. Delays are bad, bad...

Workload

The job came in hard today; had to spend the whole time brainstorming and thinking about ideas for TV commercials with people from the Indonesia office. We had free food and nice company, but of course it's still work. Anyway, hope I can get in proper blogging time tomorrow.

Tech Shopping

I feel like such a computer freak. I went out and bought myself a new keyboard, a new mouse and some CD-Rs. I settled for a simple Genius keyboard, resisting the temptation to buy one of those new-fangled 'Internet' keyboards (they come with extra controls and hotkeys for surfing and using media) or hi-tech cordless keyboards. I was slightly interested by the 'bendable' keyboard, which looks like a deflated rubber pool toy for nerds. Heh. I got a new wheel mouse, which should be cool for scrolling down easier (and for zooming in nicely for various games). Finally, the CD-Rs are for backing up my tons of data, so I can ease the burden of my poor Hard Drive.
Am still conflicted on whether I should just give up and buy a new scanner or keep on trying to figure out why my old one is acting up. Are the ghosts of the countless ants finally wreaking their revenge? We'll see. The fact of the matter is that I can't let the scanner be a bottleneck for me for too long, so I have to decide before the end of the week.
Darn. I am actually excited to start using my mouse and keyboard. How's that for acting like a geek? GAH!

Kinji Fukasaku passes away...

An acclaimed Japanese director of many, many films, only one of which I have watched to my knowledge, died on Sunday, January 12, 2003, at the age of 72. This is news to me since that one film of his that I saw, the black comedy/social commentary/survival-action film Battle Royale, became one of my favorite films the first time I saw it. Director Fukasaku had been working on the sequel to his notorious, critically-acclaimed hit, literally working from intensive care. Fans and film buffs can lay their worries to rest though; before he passed away, Mr. Fukasaku turned over direction of Battle Royale 2 to his son, who wrote both chapters of the film.
Toei of Japan has set up a website for Battle Royale 2, and it has a trailer and previews of the much-awaited sequel. Click here. Before Battle Royale, Director Fukasaku had directed over 60 films, including mainstream movies like Tora!Tora!Tora!, numerous yakuza and samurai films and the odd sci-fi cult movie. He will be missed.

What Price Power? Part Two...

Last night, my brother found a wholesale way of bypassing the bugs and glitches caused by my computer 'upgrade'. Now my files have been transferred to another computer wholesale, so we can possibly escape any incompatibility and conflict issues. The good news is, the system is FAST. It can probably run a lot of programs better (I will have to re-install a lot of programs) and work well in the long run. Plus my internet connection is working again, as well as the speakers. The Bad News... My scanner STILL won't work. And since the PC's system is Windows ME, it seems some items like my video capture card (configured for Win 98/95) won't work unless I find ME drivers. Oh well. The biggest problem is the scanner, so I will have to work on that. Another thing is the fact that the machine is LOUD. Oh well. I'm glad that things are beginning to look better though. This is cramping my style, having a half-working workstation. At least, it's a nice-looking half-working workstation though. Heh.

X-Men 2 Trailer LOVE!

Have you seen the X-Men 2 (X2) trailer? No, not that sorry excuse for a teaser which just showed silver CG X-Men logos... the REAL first official trailer of the sequel to the film that made Marvel Comics a bankable movie property again. This has it all... Most of the old crew like Professor X, Wolverine, Cyclops, Storm, Jean Grey, Rogue... as well as Gandalf, er, Magneto and Mystique (YES!!!). New characters shown include of course Nightcrawler, Stryker and a slick-looking Deathstrike. Lots of action too, with scenes of commandos storming the Xavier School, Wolverine going berserk, Mystique and Nightcrawler doing acrobatics (not together though), Wolverine and Deathstrike going at it, Storm piloting the Blackbird through a tornado/hurricane, Magneto being assaulted in his cell and MORE.
Download the trailer now here. X2 is set for a May 2, 2003 release. That's going to be one sweet mutant-fest.

Freaky Taxi Ride

Had things to do at the office, so in my rush I took a cab from home all the way to Ayala, Makati. Fortunately I was able to flag down a cab willing to take me all the way easy enough. However, several minutes into the ride I got uneasy. It was the driver. He was sniffling and making weird noises in his throat like he was trying to clear it or had a stuffy nose or throat. I tried to ignore but soon I realized that he was jerking and twitching his head and body about spasmodically; almost as if he was suffering withdrawal symptoms or having an epileptic attack! Despite this, he drove pretty well though... but it just looked so... odd! His convulsions were rocking the whole cab! Somehow I managed to refrain from commenting... I was afraid he'd rotate his head towards me ala Linda Blair in the Exorcist. Actually though, I didn't ask the taxi driver why he was twitching, convulsing and jerking around since he may have answered something like...

"Oh, this always happens when I forget my drugs at home."

"I am no driver... I am the LORD OF DARKNESS!!!"

"It's... it's trying to come OUT..."

"Does not compute... does not compute..."

Or worse of all...

"Twitch? What twitch?"

Anyway, obviously we got to my stop safely, and I paid and left. Yet another weird experience in my travails as a dedicated commuter. What was that all about? Don't know. Don't want to know, either. Hey... is that a twitch I feel in my neck??! AAAAAHHHHH!!!!
Freaky, freaky, freaky.... FREAKY!!!

What Price Power?

Yesterday, I finally got to upgrade my computer thanks to my brother. He let me use one of the hi-speed PCs he had lying around, and helped me transfer my Hard drive. Now my PC is an AMD Duron 750 Mhz machine, which SHOULD be a lot better and faster than my earlier Pentium III configuration. It also came with a great videocard and upgraded memory- 256K SDRam in total. With this increased power I was so pumped I finally bought myself a new computer desk, which looks simply neat.
Unfortunately, the transition has been plagued by several disturbing effects to performance. The speakers break up in sound quality seemingly at random. Using the Finder makes the machine crash. The system can't detect my scanner (so I am currently paralyzed in my art stuff) and worst of all, I am all but dead with my internet. I don't know if the new modem I got is the problem, or if it's all in the configuration settings.
On the bright side though... I finally got to play Neverwinter Nights. Way cool.
ARGH. But the rest of the current situation sucks. I hope I can get the PC back and running well again ASAP. This is cramping my style. I want to keep the upgraded power and settings though... just need the scanner and internet connection back and running well, somehow. Sigh. Why aren't things like this EVER easy?

Watching the OTHER Ring movie...


No-brainer tip: Don't watch cursed... Bah...they never listen anyway...

Last night, me and the gang attended the premiere showing of the US version of The Ring, even as the majority of Manilenos trooped like Uruk-Hai to lay siege to theaters showing The Two Towers. Cams had treated all of us to free tickets, so naturally we all jumped to it. I had already watched the original Japanese version, and I have heard good things about the Hollywood remake. So despite an outward facade of disinterest, I was actually looking forward to seeing The Ring.
Anyway, the film basically follows the general plot of the original. A cursed videotape, a thing of rumor and urban legend, supposedly causes death in seven days to those who see its contents. When a teenager named Katie (Amber Tamblyn) does indeed die after seeing the tape, her reporter-aunt Rachel (Naomi Watts) investigates the circumstances behind her death. In doing so, she comes across the video, gets her life measured in seven days, and starts on a gauntlet of terror as she struggles to find the secret of the tape before time runs out.

There are some things that I accepted before seeing The Ring; that it would be changed a lot for the American audience; that it would have MUCH better production values, and a different treatment to the original. Which made, as I pleasantly found, for an enjoyably tense suspense-horror movie. As I have already seen the original and generally knew what was going to happen, I can't say I was 'scared''... but the more atmospheric and all-pervasive music, the much darker and atmospheric locales and settings, the closer and more intimate camera angles and shots of the actors made for a very visceral experience. Of course, there are the expected (but still maddeningly freaky) uses of sudden sounds to jar and unnerve you... the creepy images of the video itself (which contain some new elements from the original video)... and some changes in treatment that go either way for better and worse. The script changes much, such as the treatment of the force behind the curse; in a way it is made less scary because we actually see a human side to the equation, while the original film gave us a more sinister, almost alien, figure. Kudos though to young actress Daveigh Chase for still being able to freak us out after getting us to feel foolishly sympathetic to her.
The links to psychic powers, Japanese myth and legend give way to a more abstract origin of stark, pure evil in the US version. I have to say that while I have some reservations, the script works well... even excellently at times. The US version also uses more overt visuals to creep us out along with the original's subtle freakiness, along with a bit more action and tighter pacing than the Japanese film. The Ring's incredible climax, one that I will not spoil here, is impressively done and still makes for a simply incredible handle-of-your-seat-grabbing moment of fear. Love it! Heh.


Actress Daveigh Chase (Samara) was the voice of Lilo in Disney's Lilo and Stitch.

I can then say that I loved The Ring. The performances are fine, and the movie's visuals are quite beautiful and scary when they need to be. Like The Ringu, the actresses are very easy on the eyes as well.Heh. Was it better than the original? I have to say, in some ways, yes. In general though, It perhaps just reflects how good the basic story is; the sinister premise, the mystery and the building up of fear and suspense leading to a terrifying climax. Intelligent, entertaining and thoroughly absorbing stuff.
I liked The Ring so much, I want a my own copy... on DVD. Keep those VHS tapes away from me.

Some interesting bits about some of the actors... Brian Cox will next be seen in X-Men 2, as the main baddie, Stryker; he was also the original Dr. Hannibal Lecter in the film, Manhunter. Daveigh Chase was the voice of Lilo in Lilo and Stitch, and played Chihiro in the english version of the anime movie Spirited Away.

Hanging with a dog boy and enjoying the weekend.


Inu Yasha and his demon-slaying band.

Ah. The first work week of January is over, giving way to the first weekend. Bliss. Well, I still have to make sure I mix in play with some playful work. Have to start working on several comic projects I have on my plate, including the KC Strange pages and Angel Ace. Gotta make sure I get in an hour or twelve of Suikoden III though. Speaking of that most-beloved of games, we spent probably the whole night's dinner and after-dinner chat talking about it and other RPG videogames. Jason and Mike were probably alienated by our references. Dean, Gig, Dino and me should get them to play more games. Heh.
Anyway, last night I finally got to start watching episodes from the latest DVD collection of Inu Yasha TV series. IY is an anime series set primarily in Japan's Feudal Age. The titular character is a half-dog demon, half-human boy who is looking for the pieces of a shattered mystical orb known as the Shikon No Tama. At his side is Kagome, a Japanese teenage girl from modern times, who got involved via a magical time-travelling well and the fact that she is the reincarnation of the deceased priestess who originally protected the orb. Basically, the series is all about their adventures to recover the pieces of the orb (which was shattered in the early episodes), their battles against a powerful and malevolent enemy who is also after the Shikon, and of course, Inu Yasha's and Kagome's growing love for each other. Awww.
Rounding out the cast of good guys are Miroku, a somewhat lecherous but good-hearted priest with a black hole in his hand; Sango, a beautiful monster-hunter who has a big chip on her shoulder (along with a HUGE boomerang) and Shippo, a kawaii little fox spirit. Aside from the TV series, there is are a couple of anime movies, the latest of which was released in Japan just this past December.
IY is based on the popular manga by Rumiko Takahashi, the same manga-ka (creator) behind Ranma 1/2 and Urusei Yatsura. Anyway, the TV anime is over 100 episodes long and STILL going strong in Japan (Takahashi titles are always long, long affairs). Have to keep watching lots of those. For an in-depth and detailed view of the Inu Yasha anime, click here.
The rest of the day is filled up to. Of course, I have my regular expedition to Greenhills, and a premiere showing of the US version of The Ring later with the gang. Looks like a fun weekend. Got to enjoy it all!

Me, My Shelves and I.

The sanctum is getting crowded. Every cabinet, shelf compartment and drawer is full or near-full. I'm getting near the capacity level... a result of my pack-rat ways. On top of the shelves have been consigned my old books and fantasy novels... stuff I have turned my back on since turning to the digital realm for most of my recreation. Now that I think of it, I really should take them down, dust them off and take care of them better. Sure, I will probably not be reading those old Dragonlance novels again anytime soon... but they did give me endless hours of reading fun years ago. Note that down...
A problem for me are the sheer huge number of stuff I can't throw away. First among these are the old VHS tapes I collected years ago. I remember buying the bulk of these anime tapes from CATs in Virra Mall, Greenhills. I spent a fortune on those tapes! Sheesh. I've actually sold quite a lot to Jason, keeping several because I don't have them yet on DVD or VCD, and for sentimental reasons. Maybe I can find a compartment somewhere to put them all into. Another large percentage of space is taken up by old VCDs and CDs, and CD cases. These are particularly hard to move since they are hard plastic and can actually cut me if I'm not careful. At least they don't take up as much space as the tapes. Anyway, I have to sort through them... a LOT are stupid throwaway VCD movies, but there ARE a few gems. And stinker gems, like a clear VCD version of that ludicrous Dungeons and Dragons movie... I will NOT buy that in DVD, but I just have to keep a copy as a reference for sheer disastrous handling of an otherwise incredible franchise.
Then there are my magazines. I started collecting gaming mags back in college, and never really stopped. I could go through the piles and find some issues that still focus on Super Nes and Genesis reviews. DARN! Reading through them, you'd never have thought you'd eventually have the capability to play better-than-arcade quality games in your own home. I just can't bear to get rid of these vintage documents.
And then, there are my comics. I have two large drawers full of comics, and the relatively new issues are fill up two spaces on the cabinets. New additions come in every week. Darn. Gotta find space for that too. I am contemplating on getting plastic cabinets to store the comics in, safe from dust and insects (though I think the house is termite-free anyway).
Ah. Maybe space isn't really the main problem... perhaps it's more of organization. Despite the chaos of my sanctum, I want order. I want my room to be aesthetically pleasing in an organizational way. I want to just be able to stand back and say, 'All is well in my realm.'

Then I will shed a tear for there are no more worlds to conquer. No cabinets to tidy. No drawers to fix.
Cry, cry.

Maybe I should ask Jason to spend the day over. That should get the room fixed up quick. Heh.

Juvenile fun for the mature gamer


"Hey, are you sure you're old enough to play with me?"

It's official. Dead or Alive Xtreme Beach Volleyball, the Xbox game I've been waiting for months and months, has been rated Mature by the US's ESRB (regulatory board). Reasons cited for this rating include gambling (there's a casino in the game), mature sexual themes and nudity. Tecmo, the producers of the game, said they were 'surprised' at the rating (they were expecting a Teen rating) but reportedly would not appeal the decision.
DOA Volleyball, or DOAX, is based on the popular fighting game series. This 'side story' or spin-off chapter takes the female characters and puts them in a tropical island setting where they trade in their fighting outfits for bikinis and swimsuits, and engage in heated volleyball matches and minigames instead of beating each other unconscious.
Tecmo has been VERY secretive about the game's main volleyball engine, but all reports point to a highly playable, addictive and intuitive game that will cater to players of all skill levels. Players will spend two weeks of game time taking their main DOA girl of choice all over the island paradise, relaxing and playing minigames for cash and mainly trying to find partners to play volleyball with. A very important factor in gameplay is the Gravure System, where you have to establish and nurture friendships with other girls to form a killer team. While this may bring thoughts of lesbian action (which will surely freak out Dean), this mainly involves gift-giving. Each girl has her own likes and dislikes, so you will have to figure out which of the literally hundreds of items on sale at the island's shops will perk her interest. A closer friendship means better teamwork and technique, which leads to more matches won, more cash earned, and more items to give away.
Of course, you can also spend cash to buy any of the 300 or so swimsuits in the game. These range from conservative one-pieces to simply scandalous thong bikinis that seem torn from the pages of an Ibiza catalog. Better yet, players can appreciate the wardrobe (or lack of) of the girls via numerous cut scenes of the girls relaxing, stretching and playing around in the island's venues... and yes, the camera is controllable during these sequences.
That all said, DOAX will NOT, according to the developers, have nudity of any sort (apparently with the exception of butt shots in some of the CG cinematics) or any sexual actions aside from the requisite pettings, hugs and sweet gestures of close female affection. However, the ability to ogle and interact with digital divas in skimpy swimwear has caused this game to be a no-no for kids under 17 in the US.
It's funny though that DOAX has really no nudity and violence and has content that basically amounts to about a day at a beach or a season of Baywatch episodes. The Mature rating though puts DOAX in the company of some very high-profile games: Metal Gear Solid 2, Shinobi, Unreal Tournament, Hitman 2, BMXXX and the Resident Evil series.
Of course here, that doesn't mean JACK since Manila doesn't have any such restrictions. Anyway, as far as I know, Xbox owners in Manila are all adults and males. This game will sell a lot of Xboxes here...
For the record, I'm getting it since I am a longtime DOA fan, I am interested in the RPG-relationship building mechanic, the volleyball physics engine and gameplay, and the all-new graphics engine used that is much more powerful than that in the already-awesome Dead or Alive 3.
Of course, the real reason is that this is the first sports-action/dating sim/rpg-strategy/vacation sim/girlwatching game to star my favorite videogame vixens, and I just have to have it. That and the ability to get a sexy female assassin to wear a pair of cute cat ears. Heh.

For an in-depth preview of DOAX, click here.


I wonder if the presence of bikinis like this in the game contributed to the Mature rating?

Tweaks here and there...

Been fiddling with some aspects of my blog (none of which, thankfully, should make it CRASH again, earning me more kicks from Kai). I've added more links to the Cliques and Clicks Blogroll; not all of them are other blogs... some are just nice sites I just want to share. Some are links to my Anime Ace boards: The Lone Gamer is all about videogames, Big Guns, Bigger Eyes is where I post anime news and reviews, Homemade Heroes is for news on the Local Independent Comic front and Say Anything is for anyone to post stuff on that won't fit on the tagboard. Oh, and DOAtaku is our local obsession and news page for the latest on our controversial favorite game series, Dead or Alive. Check them out if you have the time. And say hello to Angel and the gang while you're there.


Rip, we've got visitors. Hi!


Too... busy... playing... to... say... hi...

Buns on the Run

I usually don't get to eat breakfast at home. I wake up relatively late, so to arrive at an unreasonable hour at the office (as opposed to being ludicrously late) I usually just rush through getting dressed up right after I drag myself out of bed. The most I get is a glass of water before I leave the domicile.
So on the way, I get the munchies. So it was that when another one of those vendors selling food on the bus to Cubao came on, I was a bit intrigued. It was a guy wearing a uniform of Minute Burger (a hamburger chain) hawking hamburgers at two for 10 pesos. TWO for TEN PESOS! That's probably the cheapest burger ever (about less than twenty cents!). I first encountered Minute Burger hawkers at Santolan along EDSA, near a Minute Burger outlet. I didn't know they also came on buses at Cubao. Anyway, a lady ordered several of the burgers for her group, and I was listening. After she ordered, the guy took out the burgers from his bag... and it was revealed how SMALL the darn things were! PUNY! I mean, they're probably aptly named since it would probably take a minute or less to eat the things. Bun, sliver of thin burger meat (which is without a doubt full of extenders like those horrid Scott's burgers which MUST be at least 50 percent lard and flour) and ketchup. That was it.
So I decided against getting a burger myself. I got very hungry though, so I had my usual squid balls and gulaman at the MRT Station. Mmmm. Hot, spicy, satisfying and cheap. Though for what I spent there, I could have had six burgers. Makes me sick even thinking about it. Heh.

The Weekly Bloodletting...

I passed by Comic Quest last night and picked up a load of comics: Killraven 3 and 4 (which I got solely for the wonderful art by one of my favorite artists, Alan Davis), Elektra # 19 (which has changed interior art AGAIN!!! AAAAAHHHH!!!), Blade of the Immortal #75, and Mystic # 32 (which I admit I got since it features Giselle ala Jungle Queen. Rarr). Also got the latest Official Xbox Magazine. I got a copy of WWE: Smackdown 4 Shut Your Mouth (what a mouthful), and a copy of Private Dancer for the PC. Heh... that last one we will review in a later post. Heh.
Finally, Cams gave me a ticket for the premiere showing of the US version of The Ring on Saturday. Will it be as good as the Japanese original? It should certainly have better production values, but I will reserve my judgement for after I see it. I've heard they've followed the original script pretty much religiously.
Maybe they still used the Japanese names...Heh-heh... Yes...

3M Pizza

Anyone here eaten at this place? It's been like, around forever, so I am sure you've probably heard of it. But have you ever tried it? That's the trick. Not a Pizza Hut or Shakey's or even a Greenwich-level pizza place though; 3M is stricly Pinoy 'pitsa'... cheap, easy and satisfying at a base level. As you can tell, I love it. Though I've had some strange experiences. There was a time that I ordered their 'meat sauce' pizza; Imagine my surprise when it came topped with actual pools of meat sauce poured on the pie. WEIRD. If only it tasted as great as it was weird, it would have been perfect.
Well, the good thing is that the other, safer variants taste good. And you get it nice and toasty since they bake it in front of you. I am lucky to have a small kiosk of 3M at our building's cafeteria floor. I actually feel like a pizza right now. Mmm. Crunchy crust, pinoy-spaghetti sweet-spicy sauce, spice ham... Mmmm. Pinoy pizza. An Italian would gag, but hell, I'm not Italian now, am I? Heh...
The only thing is... what do the 3 M's stand for? Initials? Or may be Mura, Masarap at Marami (Cheap, Delicious, Plenty). One of the many mysteries we will never be able to fathom...

KC Strange: Finally out of the shadows


Whew. It was dark in there...

KC Strange is an unusual girl. Besides being the daughter of a mysterious paranormal expert, she got into her own business dealing with the unknown... as a private eye specializing in supernatural cases. Tough, streetsmart and possessing a sharp wit and knowledge of the arcane, KC's ready to take down anything that crosses from the other side into ours. For a fee, of course. This intriguing character was supposed to be my first comic collaboration with Nikki Alfar and Kestrelstudios. However, things didn't go as planned and went a little sidetracked. KC was consigned to go hunt aswang in the backburners for a while. However, an opportunity to finally let the mystic detective see print is about to happen. It's not very long, but will easily give KC more exposure than a lot of our other characters and titles. I'll be working on this one in the next few days.

Rahxephon


Rahxephon is one new anime to look out for.

What does this word mean? Some kind of musical instrument? Some Egyptian diety? Or maybe the latest cellphone? Nope, Rahxephon is one of the newest anime series to thrill otaku all over the world. Rahxephon tells of the adventures of Ayato Kamina, a Japanese teenager from the city of Tokyo whose life suddenly takes a wild, fantastic turn one day. Mysterious aircraft appear and battle the city's self-defense forces, and then later fight mysterious mecha that appear out of nowhere amidst unearthly, eerie music. With a classmate named Reika Mishima, Ayato wanders into a hidden, secret chamber where another mecha is enclosed. As if summoned by a voice, Ayato enters the mech and soon becomes a vital part of a struggle between the forces of earth and an alien menace known as The Mu.
Rahxephon is very similar in theme and shares elements with the now-classic series, Neon Genesis Evangelion; we have a young, unsure teen hero being guided by a more mature female (like the Shinji-Misato relationship), a mysterious mecha, and a somewhat ambivalent earth organization behind them fighting a secret enemy. However, Rahxephon doesn't have the same technobabble (the jargon is more musical-based and often abstract) or the heavy stress levels of Evangelion.
The large cast of human characters is also very far from the crew of psychos in Eva; Ayato gets to meet and mingle with a large assortment of anime babes; from tomboyish fighter pilots and officers to ethereal cuties, sophisticated lasses and the token alien girl. Even the guys look so trim, like there was an architect or fashion designer in the production team.
Another distinct element of Rahxephon is the music; the jazzy, beautiful tracks contribute much to the series' atmosphere, from discordant piano keys to cool guitar riffs. The opening song of Rahxephon is one of the most beautiful theme songs I have heard in recent anime. If I find a copy of the soundtrack CD, it is MINE.
With cool mecha action and unusual designs, a large likeable cast, great music, excellent animation and an intriguing, complex story, Rahxephon is one new anime series I can heartily recommend to anyone looking for intelligent, well-paced animation that's as much about drama, character and plot as it is about action. Grab this if you can.

Hot Copy

On my way to try and find a copy of the latest issue of Electronic Gaming Monthly, I found a copy of the latest FHM Magazine instead. The cover has four girls, among them the sexy Maui Taylor. Hmmm. Aside from featuring Ms. Taylor and the so-called Viva Girls, the issue also comes with a 2003 Calendar. With nothing else on my mind but the thought of how useful a new calendar would be, I purchased it. Great stuff. Thanks to my friend Dean for preconditioning me into getting a copy. Heh.

Strange Dream

Last night I had a very peculiar but quite exciting dream. I remember a lot of it quite vividly, so I decided to write about it. It was like I had been dropped into some kind of Aliens movie (As in, the Sigourney Weaver films), and I had been partnered with a Space Marine who looked a lot like... Sean Astin (yes, Samwise Gamgee from LOTR). I was given what I can only describe as a plasma rifle- which was very square-ish in look, but simply made me feel kick-butt. Heh. BRING IT, ALIEN SCUM! Anyway, my bravado didn't last since we seemed to be isolated and I didn't know how many aliens were going to attack. Plus, we tended to change settings; one moment, we were atop a building surrounded by wire fences; the next, we were down on the street. Just then, the attack came; several figures came out of nowhere and started bombing cars (Okay, an Aliens movie set on modern day earth? Yep. Weird).
Then, a whole crowd appeared. Of course, I started blasting away with my rifle. Well, I tried. I looked through the cool scope and could see the whites of the aliens' eyes... hey. They looked human. But kinda, zombie-ish. Okay, I was in Resident Evil. Anyway, I kept pulling the trigger of my toy gun, and all it did was shoot out tiny pellets that made one of the zombie flinch. At least they didn't seem hostile and were pretty much preoccupied with just falling in line for something.
As for my marine buddy, Sean, he seemed to be kinda frustrated that the 'aliens' weren't affected by our firepower, and he went wrestling with one of them. He kinda disappeared after that. So what happened next? Nothing. I woke up.
What does THAT mean? I have no idea. Maybe it's a reference to how me, being a creative person (symbolized by the Space Marine getup and the gun) am constantly fighting mediocrity and genericism in our clock-punching, lemming-like society. Or maybe everyone is an alien except me. In which case I am doomed since I just revealed myself to you all... Aaaahh...
Whatever. Weird dream. Freaky, freaky, freaky.

Wanted: BIG-ass TV.

During lunch and on my way home, I walked around for a while at SM Ayala and in Farmer's Plaza looking for a new TV. I suddenly got this desire for a HUGE screen to play my games on, so I started looking. I had read somewhere that Dead or Alive Xtreme Beach Volleyball would look simply awesome on a widescreen TV, so that was the object of my quest.
Of course, all I learned from my wanderings was that... widescreen TVs are FRICKING EXPENSIVE!!! We're talking in the six digits (excluding centavos). DAAAAAAMMMN. Anyway, now that I look at it, it wouldn't really be practical. Aside from the cost, watching regular TV on a widescreen would be pretty weird. I doubt it would even fit into the sanctum without me kicking out some stuff. Granted, it would make DVDs a lot better... but... nope. I guess not this year. Or next year. Maybe someday, widescreens will be more affordable. So I can let my grandson inherit my copy of DOAX to play on his widescreen. Hah. He'll probably have cyborg sexdolls by then.
Well, with my widescreen dreams dashed, I looked for a simpler alternative; flatscreen TVs. Not bad at all, and I have to say the pictures look great... but they're STILL pretty expensive (though not as astronomical as widescreens). I had to look for 29-inch screens, since I already had a 25-incher. I could probably afford it... as long as I don't eat for the next few weeks. Heh. Anyway, what I'd want probably is a new Philips Pixel Plus TV; that's the one I saw during the LOTR gala- it just makes movies move so... fuller. Still too expensive though. Grrrr.
It was at Farmer's Plaza that I saw a Daewoo 29-inch TV which was within reason, and it looked kinda good. But would it be worth the price and the effort? Now, back at home, I see that my old TV's still pretty great. And it would be a bitch to take out all the connections I've impaled it with. Hmmm. I'll try to save a bit more and see what happens. Till then, I'll make do with the old screen. Maybe all I need is better cable reception. Or probably just a copy of DOAX. Gotta focus on something, and keep the Spender in me under wraps. Down, boy. DOWN!!!

Victory at Work

Some recent events at work made me recall an episode from Band of Brothers. I think it was entitled Breaking Point . Easy Company (the US paratroopers the series is all about) had been without a leader for a long time. Their first and best commander had been promoted so far up, he was no longer allowed to handle the men himself. The replacement officer was an incompetent, indecisive, uninspiring and unskilled do-nothing. He was, as the men called, an empty uniform. This caused bad morale and almost led the company into disaster during a major battle. Luckily, a good replacement was sent in the nick of time, and the men rallied to win a stunning victory. Finally they had a leader again. But even during the bad times, Easy Company was lucky it had a good sargeant (Lipton, played by Donnie Wahlberg) who kept them from going too far under, and who kept the men together. So, they eventually weathered the bad times to survive the end of the war.
Well, that pretty much is very similar to what had happened in our office. Of course, sans guns, flying shrapnel or Nazi stormtroopers... My Creative Director kept our department together and when we needed to, got us to do quality work despite having an empty uniform at the corner office. She played our supportive sargeant... and now she's our new commander, too! Finally, she's been given the position she's had all this time in all but name. The great thing is, she's the first Filipino and woman to be in the position, I think (the position is usually reserved for expatriates and men). Great stuff. I hope this bodes for lots of victories ahead.

Gotta watch out for those darn Nazi stormtroopers though.

Kick Me. Again. HARDER!!!



I should really learn to stop tinkering with my blog template. AAAHHHRRR. Sorry for the slight time of dead space.

Japanese Beef Bowl

I had lunch today at Yoshinoya, a restaurant that specializes in Japanese rice bowl meals. Actually, their specialty is beef bowl meals, though they also have chicken and combo bowls (combo has both chicken and beef). Pretty good, fast food and the servings are quite ample. I have a bit of a fondness for Yoshinoya since I actually designed and drew their anime-style mascots, Yoshi and Noya. Yoshi is a samurai teen in baggy hakama pants who carries HUGE chopsticks, while Noya is a ninja waitress. Heh. I was kinda disappointed that at first there weren't any outlets nearby, but it seems that Yoshinoya's finally getting branches in places that I don't need a VISA to go to. There's one in Park Square, Glorietta, and I think another's opening in Megamall soon. Try it for nice beef bowls, and for nicer anime mascots! Heh. Shameless plugger.

The First Day of Work...

AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!

Okay, got that out of my system. Anyway, the day actually started quite nicely. I got up at about seven, even before my alarm/TV went off. I actually got to have breakfast, with nice toasted corned beef sandwiches (made with a brand-new sandwich maker my mom got for Christmas) and ice-cold Sprite (Well, it's better than Coke), which went down like liquid love down my throat. Mmm. It was just like one of those perfect anime mornings where everything is just peachy. The commute wasn't bad either... well, not too bad.
When I got to the office, which is still half-empty (a lot of folks are still in the holiday funk), I was greeted by several Christmas gifts from officemates. Nice, heh.
I hope the day doesn't turn too busy; I'd like to ease in back to work, not get avalanched by a deluge of Job Orders. Sigh. Anyway, I'll try to walk around at lunch and get a feel of the Ayala neighborhood again. It's been awhile.

KILL BILL


Uma Thurman gets to kill a lot of baddies in Kill Bill.

Heard about this upcoming flick? It's just the fourth film of some director named Quentin Tarantino. Like most of his other movies, Kill Bill looks to be a dizzying spectacle of violence, profanity and exploitative action. Sounds great. Anyway, it stars an impressive cast: Uma Thurman, Lucy Liu, Daryl Hannah, Michael Madsen and... David Carradine! Woohoo! The story is about a former assassin known only as The Bride (Thurman) who comes back for revenge against her former employer, Bill (Carradine). But of course, the road to the end is never simple, and The Bride has to go through her former comrades in the assassin game, each now far more powerful and deadlier than ever before. Of course, you can tell there's going to be a LOT of killing before The Bride even gets to Bill.
While it's set in contemporary modern-day, KB will feature Japanese swordfighting and martial arts as well as guns. There are touches of anime/Japanese overtones, like killer schoolgirls, and even some homages to old kung -fu movies and Bruce Lee films (Thurman sports Game of Death yellow in one major battle scene). And of course, since it's a Tarantino flick, there's bound to be lots of mature language that will inevitably be bleeped out on cable. So catch this in theaters or on DVD.
Violence, kick-ass women, blood and guts, masked villains and Yakuza, samurai swords, Lucy Liu in a white kimono and LOTS of Uma Thurman. Damn, this is going to be good. You can check out more on this movie at the official site, or download and view the teaser trailer at the apple trailers page.


Lucy Lui and her posse of Yakuza. She even has a Battle Royale-style schoolgirl on her side...

The Sanctum's Mirror

We spent the night at Dynatica Central AKA Jason's place, in a special 'housewarming' get-together. Eats included Yellow Cab pizza, chicken and sushi Jason cut up himself. There was also a selection of softdrinks and some liquor (though most of us kept tee-totalled). All I can say is... hey! This is kinda like MY sanctum. A single guy's pad, Jason's nice condo has a section for his books, comics and other documents, an entertainment center with DVD, a PSOne and a VHS. There's an area for some food prepping, a fridge and the bathroom, and the rest for entertaining people and for the bedspace. Of course, there are posters of anime/cyberpunk stuff all over, and Jason sleeps surrounded by various comics posters in perfectly-aligned formation. That must give good feng shuei. Heh. Anyway, it was fun to just hang and talk about stuff and just go through Jason's stuff. It reminded me a lot of my place, though Jason's principle is ORDER, while mine is leaning more towards CHAOS. Well, that's why I'm called the MADman and this blog Stark Raving MAD.

HERO

I caught a snippet of a feature on AXN about Zhang Yi Mou's HERO, which is supposed to be the next big Asian film after Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. Set after the assassination of the first Chinese emperor, it is all about the preconceptions and misconceptions about just what a 'hero' is, in the context of Chinese culture.
The film features a who's who of Hong Kong stars: Jet Li, Zhang Ziyi, Tony Leung and Maggie Cheung. I got to read a feature about it in TIME months and months ago, but now was the first time I actually saw footage. The movie is set in the 'Warring States' period of ancient China (which was like, 2000 years ago) and has a high-stakes storyline of ambitious emperors, divinely powerful assassins and forbidden love. Wow.
Like Crouching Tiger, HERO features lots of over-the-top wirework martial arts, flying fight sequences, dazzling swordplay and BIG army scenes. The oriental armor and equipment of the armies look authentic, and the LIVE masses of fighting men (as opposed to the CG creatures of LOTR) evokes a different feel. This film looks to impress in 2003.

One Down.

Yesterday I finished the Baylans script; which is probably something of a record for me since that was probably a 100+ page script in a few hours. Heh. Well, it wasn't really a long script given to long dialogue, so it's not something to call Ripley's about. Anyway, now the ball is in the artist's court, and both Jason and I will work together on helping the story come to life on the page.
Anyway, we had dinner last night at one of our favorites; Country Waffles. We celebrated Dean's birthday (the day before yesterday) and chatted the night away with another host of varied topics, though most of it revolved around Sage, the Alfar's unica hija who seems to have mesmerized their whole building with her charm. Heh. We also celebrated the coming home of Cams from her months-long vacation in the US.
Sigh... only a day and a half left of the vacation. On Monday, I start work again. It's no biggie; I actually want time to move forward since there are lots of things I want to see happen ahead in 2003. Have to keep at Angel Ace so I don't lose momentum (like a cavalry charge of Rohirrim going against Uruk-Hai... have you seen The Two Towers already?). Also have a couple of other comics projects, which range from very short and sweet to somewhat longer.
Lots of stuff to do. So little time to do it... ah. What a cliche. Heh.

Pulling an Overnighter

It's eight o' clock in the morning and I haven't slept a wink YET. Whether it was because of all the carbonated drinks I had or sudden inspiration, I just kept thinking of how to finish the Baylans graphic novel script. I kept on it all night as I lay in bed, and finally I just resolved to just sit up and WRITE it. Well, type it, actually. Well, I actually haven't finished it all, but I have finished the third chapter, so all that's left is the final 4th endgame part. It's a lot different from a previous version of the Baylans story which I did for Jason before, but I think it's more true to itself since it all sprang from scratch. I think everything fits better too. Hope it's all worth it.
Anyway, to recap, Baylans is a story originally created by Jason Banico. It's all about a group of technophiles and rebels who fight a military dictator and evil supernatural forces in a future Philippines. There's magic, monsters, websurfing, virtual reality, lost love, new love, action, martial arts, hidden villains, misguided spirits and more. And yes, I even got to put in a love story and hot babes. Heh. If nothing goes wrong, the Baylans graphic novel should see print this year. Hope, hope.
Now then. Do I try to get some sleep, or breakfast? Heh.

Mystic Heroes


Naja's idea of a date is pitched combat against raging demons. You like?

PS2 gamers would probably want to check out Koei's Mystic Heroes. This is very similar in gameplay to the more established Dynasty Warriors series, in that you control a single character who wades into masses of enemies, striking down everyone in sight. I actually kinda like DW, but I really could never get into the complicated Romance of the Three Kingdoms story, and for the life of me I can't tell apart any of the gazillion-or-so Ancient Chinese generals you fight with; Lu Bu, Cao Cao... what-what? Who-who? BAH. Anyway, Mystic Heroes simplifies things. First of all, the look is more cute and cartoony, with characters having slightly child-like proportions (not too SD, fortunately). The story is also more whimsical. In ancient China, an evil emperor and his minions escape from an eternal prison they were condemned to. The rare event of a comet passing overhead gives them enough power to break out and resurrect their armies of evil undead warriors, monsters and robots. So now, it's up to the heroes who kicked their butts before to put paid to them for good. Simple, no?
Anyway, there are four initial playables: Shiga is a sword-wielding warrior who uses fire, and Lani is his partner, a sorceress specializing in ice spells. On another front in the story is the team of Tai and Naja. Tai is a scholarly monk and wizard who waves a wand/baton and casts lightning; Naja is a tomboyish celestial warrior maiden who carries a glaive and uses fire. Another four characters can be unlocked by beating the game modes.
The main game is mission/episode-based, with you leading your small band (the rest of your party are CPU-controlled and independent of you) against throngs and throngs of cannon fodder and a stage boss. The controls are tight and simple, and while repetitive is quite engaging. It helps that the stages aren't too long, so you can try for stages in short plays and come back after a while. The graphics are high resolution and clean, with cool and cute character designs and lots of magical effects and explosions. The PS2 version also has extra modes like multiplayer, survival and mission games. Bonuses include 'runes' and spells that you can use to 'level up' (make stronger) your characters and carry it over to repeated plays.
Lots of cute but exciting graphics and animation, mindless action and fun is to be had here. Simple, sweet, and no need to memorize names like Hu Cho, Ghou Wang or whatever. Gah.

Two Towers Redux

My friend, Pot, came over to the Sanctum and brought a pirated dvd copy of The Two Towers. Unlike the bootleg of Fellowship last year, this copy was pretty horrible. If I hadn't seen the movie before, I would have refused to let him play it. Bleech. Anyway, as he watched I was able to do stuff, like write more pages of the Baylans script (finished Chapter Two in three hours! WOOHOO!) and draw some more pages of Angel Ace. Productive. That's why I like having someone come in the Sanctum to occupy the TV and bed... forces me to keep busy. Heh. Still on vacation leave tomorrow, so I still have a few more days to myself before... work. Anyway, life goes on. Gotta enjoy what's left of my long vacation.

Out There
Last night I caught a special on AXN about The World's Freakiest Foods. Of course, one of the cooky culinaries featured was the Philippine balut, or aborted duck eggs (okay, that's putting it harshly). I have to admit, I am Filipino but I HATE balut. Can't stand the smell, can't stand the taste... and come on... the way the stuff looks would make H.R. Giger barf! BLECH. Anyway, as if to flog a dead horse (or duck, as the case may be), they actually showed the raw duck egg at several stages of growth, cracking the thing open and pouring the bloody, slushy and unformed mass of bloody stuff pool in a bowl! GRRRRROOOOOOSSSSS!!!!
But of course, that really wasn't the most freaky thing I saw in the show. Not even the all-garlic festival in Gilroy, California. Not even the rats or insect food. What really stumped me was the 'musical instrument' Aussies have, called a wobble board. It's just a board... that they... er... wobble. You know the sound made by shaking and vibrating an illustration board? Australians DANCE to that! It's music to them! THE HELL-?! Now THAT is out there. Well, I guess in the Outback, you take and use whatever you can. Heh.
Freaky. Freaky, freaky, freaky, freaky... FREAKY!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!

Had a nice dinner with the whole family, feasting on spaghetti, potato salad, embutido, lamb kaldereta, paella and chicken. All this while we watched David Blaine do magic and levitate on AXN. Heh. Afterwards, we had the first family picture-taking in a long, long time. Things are really good, except for some of the kids having little quarrels and grumbline in front of the camera. Oh well. Kids. Heh-heh. Happy New Year, everyone!

10 Things to look forward to and occupy my time this new year 2003

It's not even 2003 yet and my time already seems to be spoken for...

1. Publishing a new Angel Ace comic. THIS is a priority!!!

2. Working and Playing on with my Questventures friends: Arnold and Cynthia (who are engaged!!! Congrats!!!!), Carl, Dean and Gig, Jason and Cams, Dino and Vinnie Mike.

3. Updating the Hinirang website with more Immacolata pages.

4. Work. Yeah, yeah. Well, it pays the bills and stuff.

5. Playing the latest PS2 and Xbox games. DOAX, Panzer Dragoon Orta, Final Fantasy X2, Soul Calibur 2... This year is going to be a Gamer Year.

6. Watching TechTV not just for Extended Play, but for Anime as well!

7. Movies. X-Men 2. Matrix Sequels (and the Animatrix too on DVD). Return of the King. DAAAAAAMMMNNN!

8. Getting my hands on new stuff. How about a widescreen TV? Digital camera? Okay... I'll settle for upgrading my PC.

9. Making more people read this blog and go Stark Raving MAD. Heh.

10. Insert Other Stuff to DO HERE. I can always change this!

HAHA! THE WORLD IS AT MY OYSTER!!! (Or something like that...)

A Quiet New Year

Every year, the Philippines' New Year celebrations are getting less noisy. I remember in my youth, it sounded literally like World War 3 every January. As early as Christmas, you could hear firecrackers exploding in the distance. My family also usually have some kind of noisemaking pyrotechnics, mostly from my brother or dad. But these days, safety rather than old tradition seems to be reigning. Every year, stupidity costs hundreds of people fingers and other body parts (or even their lives) by playing dangerously with firecrackers. It appears that the campaign of various media to curb the use of firecrackers is working. Since last year, our house has just watched or listened to other people burn their money on expensive booms. I don't spend a centavo on even watusi anymore.
Perhaps it's also because of the recent terrorist activities; maybe people are paranoid of explosions. Sigh. Anyway, right now, it's actually raining... a rarity on New Year. Maybe it's a sign. But then again explosions will probably never truly disappear from the Philippines. Maybe someday we can all just move from firecrackers to fireworks instead.

Whatever. Only a few more hours to go. A new year is coming... like a thief in the night. Heh.

Looking Back at 2002

This past year wasn't my best year. It was pretty much a year of establishing new stuff, coasting with it, and getting motivation to eventually leave the status quo. I found a new job midway into the year, kept in with a creative and prolific gang of friends and compatriots, and found time to work on group projects such as the Filipino fantasy website Hinirang and the anime/manga/comic event of the year, the C3Con.
It wasn't all good; I had to go through (and am still going through) difficulties at work, having to deal with many difficult... elements. However, I am a trooper and I will be professional about it. If anything, I am looking forward to doing better and greater stuff this time around. Another thing, this time outside of work, is that I wasn't able to release a comic by myself. Yes, Angel Ace had to stay grounded for a year. Sorry, Angel.
But this year, it's going to be different. Firstly, I WILL release a new Angel Ace issue this year, hopefully within the first half of the year. I will participate and try to help in some interesting new projects and collaborate with my friends to produce cool, exciting stuff. And that's going to be my theme for the year; pushing it all a bit further. Will I do it? We'll see. But we'll give it our darndest.
Oh, and one more thing; I WILL get a copy of Dead or Alive Xtreme Beach Volleyball. Soon. Very soon. Heh.

May everyone have a safe, happy and prosperous new year.

Dabbling in Cyberpunk

Been working for the past few days. Working. During the holidays. Actually, it's fun work, so no biggie. I kept on pencilling some more pages for the next Angel Ace issue, as well as writing for the comic script thing I'm doing. Have to keep at that until automatic writing kicks in and I finish it. Well, I think it's been mentioned somewhere before, so why not say it outright. I am working with Jason Banico of Dynatica on his Baylans graphic novel. Baylans is Jason's baby, a comic/story about a future Philippines where technosages and rebels battle a military dictator and supernatural forces for the fate of the nation. The GN will be about 150 pages long, and I need to give the script over to Jason by the first week (working week) of January for his artist to work on.
Well, anyway I am not as political as Jason, nor am I a whiz at researching Filipino mythology. But I am injecting what I can from my side to make the Baylans come alive. If anything, this will be one of at least two comics I will have a part in next year (the other, of course, being Angel Ace). Well, it's coming along nicely.

36 pages done... 114 to go. HAH! Child's play. HAHAHAHA!

Er... Can someone find me a child?

Just like old times

Last night, I went to our college batch Christmas reunion. The venue was at our friend Andrew's house, which is, aside from my house, our group gathering place. The good news was, there was an abundance of food. It was supposed to be pot-luck, so I brought a bucket of KFC chicken. Butch brought Pancit Malabon. Pot brought ice cream, Alex and his girl Weng brought cheesecakes, Mayee and Jaime brought leche flan, while Andrew's family prepared for us simply SOLID barbecue, pancit, spareribs and drinks. It was a feast. The problem was, there weren't that many people. Aside from our own group, the rest of our batch cancelled or begged off at the last minute. Sigh. Anyway, we spent the night talking about old times, bad fashions and music from the 90s, and stuff ranging from gross toilet stuff to Alex and Pot's escapades with ladies of ill-repute. Heh. After about midnight, we went off each carrying a load of food for take-home. Next year, I suggested, we make it a gang reunion party. Who cares about the rest. Bah. Well, another year, another year.