Animated Angels

No, I haven't won the Lotto and gotten my own Angel Ace anime. Taking a cue from The Matrix's animated shorts, Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle will be having some online-only animated prequels released before the movie reaches theaters in June. So if you've been dreaming of seeing cartoon versions of Drew Barrymore, Lucy Liu and Cameron Diaz, this is your lucky day. There are six episodes to be eventually released, which should be fairly quick in coming since there's only less than a month to the movie's showing.
Anyway, I've seen the first episode and I have to say; It's no Animatrix. The animation is fair but the cartoon Angels look nothing like their real-life models, the story's pretty basic and the character designs are generic. However, there's a lot of action, and the cartoon DOES use some real voice samples from the real actresses (perhaps grabbed for use in this side thing rather than an actual dubbing session).
Anyway, you can download the first free episode of the animated Charlie's Angels here.

Phone Theft

Last week, an officemate of mine had her cellphone stolen. It was made all the more painful since her phone was a relatively new Sony Ericsson P-800. Yep, that spiffy PDA/Internet Surfing/Digital Camera phone. She said that it probably happened in the ladies' room at the Greenbelt Mall, where a woman had gotten close to her bag (she didn't think of it too much at the time). Right there, she lots an invaluable piece of equipment both for business and personal use worth over 36K. DAAAAAMMMMNNN!!!!

I can't fathom losing such a costly item so easily. The same way I can't fathom carrying around something so expensive as a matter of course, on just any day. If I owned such a thing, I'd keep it close to my body at ALL times. Trouble was, my officemate was a girl and she, like most women, usually kept things at a distance, in purses or handbags.

I've had my phone, a Siemens M35i, for over 3 years. Even after all this time I think it's still pretty neat. The size and shape are perfect, it feels durable and sporty, and simple goes well with someone like me who is out on the street walking around as much as I am sitting at a desk. The signal and sound are great, and it just works perfectly all the time. My only complaint? That I actually got the thing years ago for the WAP functions, which are totally, utterly, unforgiveably WORTHLESS. WAP is CRAP.
Anyway, the phone isn't worth anywhere near a P-800, but just the same losing this phone would ruin my day. It would crash me for weeks. It wouldn't be easy to get another phone.

And to think that years ago, it actually got STOLEN. Yep, I was victimized by cellphone thieves as well. Unlike my unfortunate friend though, I got my phone back.

It happened on the MRT. Me and my friend Brandie had left the office early. We were on the train, joking and chatting about stuff. At that moment, the MRT operator's voice sounded on the speakers.
"Please keep your belongings safe and watch out for pickpockets." He warned.
At that moment both of us laughed, joking that the pickpockets would have to invest in stored value tickets to be able to make their getaway. We were still chuckling when our stop at Megamall came, and we stepped closer to the doorway. As we did, other passengers crowded along with us.

The doors opened. I stepped off the train and immediately ran my hands over my pants pockets (which was my SOP) to check my wallet and cellphone. Wallet... check. Cellphone... Cellphone...

What the HELL?!? My pocket was empty!!! My phone was GONE!!!

Immediately, I turned to face the open doorway of the MRT car I had just exited. Brandie had stopped behind me, not knowing what was going on. Actually I didn't either. All I know is, I started yelling.

"PUTANG INA! (Son of a BITCH!) There's a PICKPOCKET on this train!!! My phone has been stolen!!!" I shouted. "GUARD!!! GUARD!!! Pickpockets on this train!!!"

All this time, Brandie was probably nervously looking around, and perhaps an image of my cellphone, sitting safely on top of my desk back at the office came to mind.

To their credit, the MRT security acted en punto. A guard kept the train from running, and several ringed the outside of the car. I, on the other hand, had entered the car again and was scanning the men in the immediate radius. I looked for the most suspicious one I could find.

"YOU!!!!" I snarled, at a short guy wearing a cap. I immediately started FRISKING him. To HELL with right to privacy. MY PHONE HAD BEEN STOLEN! I had deputized myself.
Of course, I found NOTHING.

I stepped back, and nodded. "Okay."
Then, I looked for another vic- er, suspect.

At that point, there was a commotion behind me, and I turned. I saw one of the passengers, a guy, pointing to a guy he collared. Immediately, guards came in and held the suspect. They led the thin man outside the train, along with some other dubious-looking youths.
One of the guards held up a familiar-looking object he had recovered from the man. It was my phone!!!

I approached the guard, declaring it was mine. He asked what the phone number was. I said it. He handed it to me. I HAD MY FREAKING PHONE BACK!!! BACK FROM OBLIVION!!!

Apparently, according to the witness (a guy named Dante; bless you, wherever you are), he had seen the phone get lifted from my pocket. When I started frisking people, he said that the phone was passed around by the gang. In panic, the unfortunate guy left holding the phone tried to just drop it into his pants (Eewww...) and let it fall to the floor where it was to be found. Good plan, but someone had seen him, so tough.
Anyway, the bad thing was, once they had their confirmed suspect, the guards let everyone else go, and let the train on its way. That included, I think, the OTHER gang members. Why they let that happen I will never know. Anyway, we had a criminal in custody, and that was that. Brandie, me and the witness accompanied the guards and the suspect back to the MRT police headquarters to file charges. There, I spent an hour, seeing other captured pickpockets being charged, and acting out a scene straight out of a police drama. Surreal.
It ended soon after. I left and never looked back. It was too much trouble to file charges, attend court and what have you. I had my phone, and a pickpocket was at least caught and his picture put up for reference in the MRT stations. Since then, I keep my phone in a proper holder at my belt, not in my easily-accessible and vulnerable pants pocket.

Love that story. Been telling it countlessly. I wish my friend was as lucky as me, but them's the breaks.

What a world we live in. Sigh.

Cute Vampire Girls sucked my Blood!!!



Expecting nothing more than dinner and a chat, I was waylaid and bloodsucked tonight at Comic Quest. I spotted a couple of special statues/figurines of anime anti-heroine Vampire Princess Miyu and her manga-only creation, Vampire Princess Yui. I could not resist their exquisite detail, from the folds of their costumes to their scuplted faces, hands and feet... DAMN YOU VINNIE!!!! AAAAAHHH!!!!
Anyway, after I shed blood for them, I later discovered that they require assembly... DAMN YOU VINNIE!!!! AAAAAHHHH!!!! Once put together though (the pieces fit nicely), they look nice, with Miyu in a kneeling pose while Yui is standing (the position showing off nice folds of her costume). They look so nice atop my desk in the Sanctum... DAMN YOU VINNIE!!!! AAAAAHHHH!!!!

Vampire Princess Miyu is all about the adventures of an immortal, ever-childlike vampire who battles evil creatures known as Shinma who prey on humans. Unlike your usual girly-heroine anime though, Miyu's episodes rarely end happily, and always have a macabre twist. A 4-episode OAV and a 24 episode TV series is available, along with manga for both VPM and Vampire Princess Yui.

Takaw-Mata (Hungry Eyes)

Visual stimulus is important to me. Extremely important. When I eat, I prefer to do so with an appetizing portion about food or eating playing on TV. Or with a book opened to a page where a lavish feast is being described. Does anyone here love watching Globe Trekker (formerly Lonely Planet)? I actually taped their Food around the World special so I can play it while I eat. My favorite parts include the earlier segments; where Ian Wright has a Japanese breakfast eating a raw egg mixed with rice. Or when Justine Shapiro eats the sour veggie stew called Samba with soft buns for breakfast on a houseboat. Or the many other sundry delicacies shown throughout the hour-long feature. That's a great thing to watch while eating (though I will probably turn it off when the 'worst' meal segments come along- Gak... kangaroo tails and sheep eye...).

Well anyway, there was that steak sequence from The Matrix that I saw last night; and when I went out to have lunch I was looking for a bloody raw steak like Cypher (Joe Pantoliano) was eating. So when I went to Food Choices at Greenbelt I ignored the dozen or so Thai and Asian food kiosks and had my eyes focused on Tender Bob's. I ordered roast beef, and had several bloody cuts sloshed with gravy. To be honest though, I had the meat seared well-done before I had it. Can't take bloody meat. Screw the juice.
Anyway, the meal was good, and I enjoyed mouthing Cypher's dialogue ('Ignorance is bliss...') as I chewed the meat. Heh. In a way, it's true I guess. Enjoyment and appetite are all in the mind. But good meat never hurts.

The Matrix Reloaded (into my DVD)

Last night I popped in my copy of The Matrix into the DVD and sat back to re-visit the original movie in preparation for Matrix: Reloaded later this week. The movie is still slick and sharp and cool as it was when I first saw it. High points still include Trinity's opening chase, the dojo battle between Neo and Morpheus, the hallway shootout and the exciting (albeit in my opinion, unnecessary and futile) fight between Neo and Smith. A personal favorite scene of mine in the film is where Cypher is eating steak as he betrays Morpheus to the machines. DAMN that steak looked good. Heh.
The fight scenes are still cool and the gunplay rocks. From the trailers of Reloaded, it's obvious that the Wachowski Brothers have revved up the action by ten; the brawl between Neo and the hundred Agent Smiths brings to mind similar scenes of one-versus-many in Hong Kong movies like Jet Li's Once Upon A TIme In China. Only this time, CG effects stands in for most of the slam-bang action. Still pretty awesome just the same though.
Sad to say we don't have any premier showings lined up; we're going to have to wait till opening day like everyone else. Can't wait. Reloaded is going to rock. It's just a matter how much.

Mother's Day

It's Mother's Day today. Greeted mom. Not planning anything extravagant, but at the very least, I'll be treating dinner tonight with maybe a pizza. Will be staying home for the day. Want to rest, draw, play and just chill (literally; I'll be keeping the aircon on).

The Quest begins!



Questers is an action/fantasy/sci-fi comic coming soon from a small but growing US-based comic company called Manga Graphix. Mixing magic and technology, Questers stars Team 325, a young but hungry party of questers, or adventurers, who seek treasure, magic and fame in dangerous otherdimensional worlds and monster-infested dungeons. No release date yet; the only info we have on this is that pencilling and inking chores will be done by someone named Marc Dimaano. Heh.
I hope this nice little side job pans out well. Check out Lone Wolf and Cherub for updates on this one as it develops. Or, you can go visit the official Manga Graphix site to check out info and art of Questers and their main comic, Witch Girls.

Silent Hill 3: Made to Scare You


Bearing a striking resemblance to actress Cate Blanchett (or is it Gwyneth Paltrow?), the mysterious Claudia plays a crucial role in Silent Hill 3.

Yesterday I went over to the Black Market in Makati Cinema Square and was surprised to see a copy of Konami's latest scare-fest, Silent Hill 3. The copy I have is the European version (the game has yet to be released in the US), and gives you multiple language options. Otherwise, the dialogue and text is in english, so it's fine to play.
Unlike the first two games, SH3 puts you in the boots of a teenage girl named Heather. She's been on a trip of some sort and is at a mall headed home when she starts having strange dreams of being in a weird, bloodstained, monster-filled place. As she's headed home, she is met by a detective who tells her he knows something about her birth. Soon after, she suddenly finds that the beasts from her dreams are real...
Silent Hill 3 has PS2 quality graphics, even better than the Silent Hill 2; the character models are very close to each other, from the CG cut-scene models to the in-game characters. The real-time model for Heather may seem a bit grimy-faced compared to the CG model, but the game is pretty... well, as pretty as a bloodstained, rusted, rotting corpse can be. As for the sounds, the effects are chilling... and I don't mean the voice acting (which is not bad- though the dialogue is kinda stilted)... creepy sounds like muffled voices, rusted hinges and moaning monsters will surely be more frightening than anything else in the game.
Controlling Heather is very similar to Resident Evil; 'up' in the directionals is always forward, 'down' is always back, left and right will turn your character. It will take getting used to, but after a while moving will be easy. Fighting monsters will take up your time a lot, but ammo is limited so choose your battles or risk fighting brutes with just a little knife.

Silent Hill 3 is still scary, though I have to say perhaps not as scary as the first one. Pretty much so because despite the fact that SH3 has more gore and blood, and the monsters are more twisted than ever... but we've seen it before, and we know what to expect. From experience I've found out that when you've got more than enough ammo, and have gotten the monster-killing technique down pat, it's all a matter of just going through the paces to kill the bosses and get to the twisted ending. Still, Silent Hill 3 is sure to have many deranged moments and creep-out chases.

Highly recommended to mature PS2 owners who want a good scare and a chill...

Textmen 2 arrives in stores!

The second issue of Textmen is now available at Comic Quest. The cellphone-wielding heroes go on a brawl at the Greenhills Theater Mall with their nemesis, the La Buena Familia. Story by Nikki Alfar, Art by Armand Canlas (Armor Troopers), tagalog translation by Dean Alfar (heh). Textmen is created by Jason Banico of Dynatica.

Chatting at Kitchen

After closing down Comic Quest, the gang (sans Vinnie, Jason and Cams) settled on the fusion cuisine of Kitchen at the Megastrip. It's a funny place that I describe as a prison cafeteria for rich people, where you order stuff with descriptions that make your mouth water at the start but suddenly turn you off when you see the end. Think black squid ink with pork. Eew. Oh well, it's a challenge to decide (though I usually order something I ordered before) what to eat there. This night though both me and Gig ordered the same thing Carl did; A dish called Buttered Up, which is the catch of the day (gindara) served with rice and lots of butter sauce. Now, the servings at Kitchen are served on huge plates which I likened to bucklers, and you use either chopsticks or huge spoons that would be used as serving spoons at my house. It was a good meal, but just too much. And the butter demanded a countertaste soon after. Bleh. Anyway, the talk over the meal gravitated from our probing again of Carl's life, to writing and our group's upcoming little comic project.

We adjourned slightly after midnight. I am so tired. Glad that this week's finally over. It wasn't a hard week, but a long one, seemingly. Have to catch up on sleep and get to draw a bit. Thanks to the Questers comic gig I seem to have bagged, I may be in for some busy art chores in the next few weeks; that's on top of continuing Angel Ace and other stuff. Whew. Gonna have to keep downing those vitamins. Can't afford to break down anytime soon.

Dare to enter the Underworld

Yet another black leather-clad movie is lurking around the corner. Underworld takes us into a shadowy no man's land where a war is raging between Vampires and their ancient werewolf enemy, the Lycans. In the middle of this fang-baring, guns blazing, sword slashing, wall crawling action/blood fest, romance blooms between a beautiful young vampire (played by Pearl Harbour's Kate Beckinsdale) and a powerful Lycan. Blade the Vampire Hunter meets Romeo and Juliet?
The film has a stylized look, and there seems to be some cool weapons and fighting scenes. Miss Beckinsdale gets to wield two guns like that Tomb Raider babe, and she's hot in black leather. But how many more black leather / monochrome-black films like The Matrix, X-Men 2 and Equilibrium can we take before we have to run for a copy of The Wizard of Oz? Sigh.

More DOA! MORE! MORE!!!
The Xbox is the Dead or Alive fan's console of choice.

Tecmo of Japan has announced that they are coming out with Xbox remakes of the earlier Dead or Alive fighting games this summer. Entitled Dead or Alive Online, the remakes will come in one volume, or disc, and will include a port of the Saturn version of the original Dead or Alive, and a graphically-optimized and updated Dead or Alive 2. No word yet on any new elements, though it is pretty obvious that DOA2's enhancements will include DOAX-quality character models and animation, and new details to the stages like falling snow. It's not clear if the new characters from Dead or Alive 3 or DOAX will be included in the remakes, or what extras will make it into these games.

Tecmo was also quick to point out though that DOA Online is NOT Dead or Alive: Code Cronos, which is yet another upcoming game in Tecmo's flagship franchise. More light should be shed on these games at the upcoming E3 Entertainment Expo 2003.

Me, I'm doing cartwheels at this news, though it's pretty disappointing that the divine Playstation version of the original DOA seems to be snubbed in the remake (since it IS a Sony game and DOA Online is for the Xbox). The Saturn version's fine; but the PS game has better animation and more good stuff. Then again, the Saturn game has Lei Fang in a string bikini, so that's not bad... Heh. As for Code Cronos, it's anybody's guess what THAT is.
On a final note, it seems as well that Tecmo is also working on a sequel to the very successful Dead or Alive Xtreme Beach Volleyball. This time around I hope they answer all the flaws and shortcomings of the first game. Oh well. That's for the future... Mmmm...

Darna # 2 lands in stores

The second issue of Mars Ravelo's Darna by Mango Comics arrived last night in Comic Quest in the nick of time (just before closing time). Thanks to the fact that the store was in the thick of the weekly bloodletting, I was able to sneak in a copy into my stash of other purchases, including a copy of Official Xbox Magazine, Playstation Magazine and R.A. Salvatore's Demon Wars#1. Anyway, this is about the local comic, so here it is.

In the second issue, Darna encounters the evil that is surrounding her in the Amor Concert, originating of course from the arch-villainess Valentina. As the snake-goddess's plot begins to unwind, can Darna save her friends as well as her own life against her well-prepared and ruthless nemesis?
Artist Lan Medina takes over the reins of the pencilling chores, and it is a marked improvement over the last issue. Not to say that Ryan Orosco's art was in any way ugly; it's just that you could pretty much see much more in terms of substance, emotion and gusto in the second issue's art. Perhaps it is also in the way the writing and panelling is done; improved and containing a fair effort to give characters more expression. Darna in particular shows more humanity and doubt in her thoughts, which makes her more engaging as a character. Some lines of dialogue and text still sound iffy, but overall gets the job done well.
Of course, being the story's middle, this is where Darna meets the villains in earnest, and action ensues. Yet again there is quite a bit of skin and fan service, but that's not a bad thing, especially in the context of the situations they are presented. The action's still not as hot as I'd like, but that's just me expecting detailed action and fight scenes in every comic I buy. Oh well. A good middle makes me look forward to the finale, in a month or so.

Mars Ravelo's Darna from Mango Comics is now available at Comic Quest. Full color, Php 120.00.

Which X-Man am I?


You are Jubilee!

Though you may be young and inexperienced, you have
great potential and will someday become an
admirable figure. For that to happen, though,
you must overcome your juvenile belief system
and adopt a more mature view on life.


Which X-Men character are you most like?
brought to you by Quizilla

LXG trailer now up!

The obscure comic (well, obscure to me) League of Extraordinary Gentlement or LXG is coming this summer. Not too sure about the exact plot, just that master hunter Allan Quatermain (played by Sean Connery) is asked to lead the newly-formed League in order to stop a madman known as The Fantom who's threatening the world with 'unstoppable assassins'. The League of course is composed of various individuals who come from other works of great literature, such as a grown-up Tom Sawyer who's now working as a spy; a vampiric Mina Harker; an invisible thief named Rodney Skinner; the tormented doctor Jekyll (and his bestial 'partner, Hyde); scientist and submariner Captain Nemo; and finally, the immortal adventurer Dorian Gray.
Though reknowned, most of these characters are flawed, sinister and nowhere near being squeaky-clean. Can the free world rely on the League in its time of greatest peril? We'll find out later this summer when LXG hits the screens. The movie looks... well, extraordinarily cool, with lots of fireworks, a very-stylized Nautilus, big brawling battles and quite a few CG beasties.

Download the first full trailer of LXG here.

Castle in the Sky DVD redux

As I noted yesterday, I got a copy of the Disney-released Castle in the Sky anime, and I have to say that it doesn't work as well as the Spirited Away dub. I just felt that James Van Der Beek is too old to play the young hero Pazu; Anna Paquin's performance as Sheeta was negligible, and Mark Hamill's Muska sounds far too close to his Joker voice in the Batman animated movies. It didn't help as well that the copy I got was missing a pivotal part of the film towards the end- have to have it replaced.
By no means is it horrible... but disappointing given that I really like Laputa's story and given it's Jules Verne/European character, an excellent english dub would have been great. With the so-so dub, it doesn't shine as brightly. Oh well.

Gotta love ENGRISH.


Squaresoft: Software producers or drug traffickers?

Freudian slip? Digital crack gives way to Digital heroin? Is this the secret of the addictive nature of the Final Fantasy games??! Heh. Just had to post this. Moving on... moving on...

Creative Guild Awards

This night I went with most of the agency to the Creative Guild Awards, which was celebrating the best in the country's advertising last year. The show was held at Onstage at Greenbelt 1 in Makati. I don't usually go to these things, but I was quite entertained by the funny commercials that made it into the finals. It was also nice to see friends and acquaintances from other agencies and companies who were present. Unfortunately, our agency didn't have too many winning entries... in fact, we went away with nothing. Oh well, I just joined last year. Let's see how we do in the next awards.

Dead or Alive Fashion Show

This May at the upcoming Entertainment Expo 2003 (E3), the latest computer and video games will be previewed. Included in the lineup will be a new Dead or Alive game, which will be given a sneak peek right after a DOA-themed fashion show (!). This new game is almost certainly the elusive Dead or Alive: Code Cronos, which is reportedly NOT DOA4. There has been a lot of speculation on what kind of game Cronos will exactly be; the most popular and perhaps accurate theory being that Cronos will be a compilation game or sorts; putting together elements from all the past DOA games (costumes, characters, Danger Zones, bosses) and giving them an Xbox DOA3 or better quality of eye-popping visuals. We'll be keeping our eyes on this come E3 from May 14-16.

DVD in the Sky

Was able to grab a copy of the english-dubbed Castle in the Sky (originally Laputa: Castle in the Sky), the Hayao Miyazaki (Princess Mononoke, Spirited Away) film now being released by Disney on DVD. As with Spirited Away, the translation was directed by Pixar's John Lasseter. The cast includes James Van Der Beek as lead hero Pazu, Anna 'Rogue' Paquin as heroine Sheeta and Mark 'This droid has a bad motivator!' Hamill as the villain, Muska.
Castle in the Sky is about the adventure of two young kids as they race to keep the secrets and treasures of a fabled floating city from falling into the wrong hands. It is one of director and anime legend Hayao Miyazaki's earlier works before Princess Mononoke and Spirited Away

Ding Dong!

Delicious cream-filled chocolate fudge cupcake. MMMMMmmmmmmm.... Thanks to Vinnie for giving me a sample from his stash. Damn good. Now I'm craving for Twinkies. Or Hostess cakes. Mmmmm.... Gotta check out the PX Stores...

Life is Unfair.

Life is like a great highway where we all have to await our fortunes and tickets to and from our destinies. Great opportunities are empty, honest taxis with full-blast aircons who'd take you all the way to Baguio if you asked.
It's unfair when you spend more than an hour waiting in the hot sun and fetid, steamy air and when that lovely taxi finally appears, you get beated to it by two freakin' SOBs who just pop out of nowhere a few meters before you. GAAAAADAAAAAMMMMNNN!!!!!

Oh, and this didn't happen to me this morning. It's just a metaphor I just happened to think of. Really.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!! VANISHING RAY!!!!

Wet Dreams

Have you ever pissed in your dreams? I mean, have you ever dreamed that you were pissing? It's infuriating. Usually you forget dreams when you wake up, but pissing dreams are pretty memorable.
I remember wanting to go answer Nature's Call. I remember the unpleasant sensation of a full bladder wanting release. I remember that the dream doesn't make things easy; Nooooo... instead of having a nice, well-lit comfort room like those in posh theaters or malls, I found myself in an obviously stinking, unmaintained, decrepit college building-class toilet, with primitive wall-urinals that haven't had flowing, cleaning water down them in years. It's either that or I am forced to relieve myself on a lavabo. Argh. When I finally let go, I distinctly remember having no relief despite anything.

About at that time, I wake up and immediately head for the real toilet.

Thankfully, I have never actually let go in my sleep, during a pissing dream. Thinking back to it, perhaps the setting of a yucky, horrid CR is the dream's way of protecting you from actually feeling TOO comfortable when pissing in your dream, so that you actually DO start tinkling in bed. Hmmm. Intriguing.

Moving on... moving on...

Steak through the Heart

Today I went out with my college friends and watched X2 at Greenhills. It was their first and my third time watching it. Have to say that despite my reservations with it, I guess I really like it. Afterwards we had a gravy-drowned, hot plate-searing, tongue-burning meal of artery-clogging STEAK at the ubiquitous, ambience-free Steak Joint.
We headed home and I treated the guys to the Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust anime movie. This 2001 movie was produced by Studio Madhouse, the same animation house that produced the anime classic Ninja Scroll. This remake of the original Vampire Hunter D anime is still influenced by the designs of Yoshitaka Amano (who also did cover art for Final Fantasy, and even Neil Gaiman's stuff), but you can easily see Madhouse's unique look and high quality animation.
Bloodlust's title character, the Vampire Hunter D, is a Dunpeal (a half-vampire/half human hybrid) whose life's work is protecting humans and hunting down evil leeches. D is contracted to rescue a young lady named Charlotte, who has apparently been kidnapped by a powerful vampire noble named Meier Link. Along for the chase are an elite team of human vampire killers called the Marcus Brothers, and protecting Link are monsters known as the Barbaroids. Though the quest starts off as a simple chase and rescue, it soon becomes apparent that not all is what it seems, and an evil, manipulating hand is influencing events for a sinister agenda.
Bloodlust has it's share of violence, though not at the level of Ninja Scroll, and has pretty little in terms of nudity or sex. Still, it's a very mature anime with exceptional music, truly excellent animation and a superb english voice cast (Yep, it's in english). VHD is available in VCD and DVD at good anime stores.

Free Comic Book Day

I'd like to thank Vinnie for the cool free comic books as part of Free Comic Book Day. The nice freebies include Metallix (Future Comics), Skinwalker (Oni Press), Courtney Crumrin and the Night Things (Oni Press), Landis (A-Bomb), Slave Labor Stories, Way of the Rat (Cross Gen) and Transformers: Armada (Dream Wave).
Many thanks to Vinnie and Comic Quest. To support this wonderful tradition, I'll be bringing a pile of copies of my original Angel Ace 2: Hunter's Heart Gaiden to give away free at the store. Here's to a successful Free Comics Day and an increased number of comics readers everywhere.

My New Blog: Lone Wolf and Cherub



I've replaced my old anime-themed blog with a page that is to focus primarily on me as a manga creator and indie comic producer. This will also serve as my online manga production/development diary/journal, both for my ongoing Angel Ace title and anything else that comes into the picture. So that pretty much means anime talk will trickle back here in Stark Raving MAD. Heh.

Anyway, check out how hard yet rewarding it can be to live with high-flying manga superheroines and slinky comic femme fatales. Visit Lone Wolf and Cherub.

The Challenge of the Superfriends


Classic Superhero versus Supervillain fun.

This is a guilty pleasure/nostalgia classic piece that I've been waiting for quite some time now. Warner Brothers finally released the first few episodes of this classic Superfriends cartoon on DVD, which first aired in the late 70s. Unlike the earlier DC Comics-based Superfriends series which saddled the heroes with teenage troublemakers like Zan and Jana (and their space monkey, Gleek), The Challenge of the Superfriends tackles the heroes' battles against their many arch-foes, banded together as The Legion of Doom. Let me tell you... this series is ALL about the villains. We're talking baddies like Captain Cold, Sinestro (He of the Yellow Power ring), Solomon Grundy (whom we learn has a Cajun accent), Bizarro, Giganta (evil jungle girl/growing woman), The Scarecrow, Toymaster, Grodd and more. This show was cool because it was all about heroes versus villains, evil plots hatched around a council room (complete with Lex Luthor banging a gavel) and some pretty wild scenarios. Most of the time the plan would seemingly succeed... at least until the Justice League finally figures out what's going on and turns the tables on the Legion. The fight scene at the end pretty much always has the Legion getting beaten (in non-violent ways, usually). However, in order to aid in show continuity, the baddies almost ALWAYS have an escape plan; of course the good guys don't care since if they caught the villains then, what would they do for the next episode? Heh.
It's all as I remember it; the funny voice acting, 'zooming-light' transitions, the cheezy voiceover blaring "Meanwhile... at the Hall of Justice..." and so much more. This is great stuff. The DVD comes with four episodes, and a couple of extras including some villain files (no hero files though; no big since the baddies are more interesting... heh), episode introductions by one of the series' producers, and a little guessing game. Not bad, but I would have wanted more episodes. Oh well.
I am hoping they come out with the rest of the series soon. Gosh, it's great to watch these cartoons... they don't make them like this anymore.

The Original X2 Story

I went to Comic Quest today, braving the expected holiday crowds. I picked up my weekly haul, which includes a reprint of God Loves, Man Kills, the original X-Men comic on which the just-released movie X2: X-Men United is based, and one of my all-time favorite comics.
There are some cuts though, since the reprint is in the usual comic format while the original material was a larger graphic novel. The art is still excellent, the action great and the story compelling; albeit a bit wordy at times. GLMK is about the X-Men's battle against the plot of a tele-evangelist named William Stryker to exterminate all mutantkind. Stryker comes with the considerable resources of his Stryker Crusade; a fanatical corps of heavily armed paramilitary troops called the Purifiers (led by a woman named Anna; who is replaced in the movie by Deathstrike) and a plan to use the powers of Charles Xavier to carry out his genocidal scheme.
The comic stars the classic X-Men lineup; Cyclops, Storm, Wolverine, Nightcrawler, Colossus and Kitty Pryde. A somewhat reformed and more benign Magneto also joins the heroes in this epic story, lending his awesome powers to the defense of mutantkind (and with far less dark motives than Ian McKellen's character in the film).

Crash Collision

During our X2 screening, I sat beside James Palabay of Culture Crash. As the two manga guys in the group that night, we naturally gravitated towards talking about our favorite topic; our works and how we can improve them. I have been reading Culture Crash from the first issue and have every single copy; I consider myself pretty expert in the series, it's characters and also, it's drawbacks and shortcomings. James asked me my opinions on his best-selling mangazine and told me to be brutally frank. So I was. Heh. To be fair (to myself) I really didn't have to be; I just told it as I saw it, and I hope that James found stuff that he can use to further push the envelope in Culture Crash in terms of story development.

Basically, my one all-important suggestion to James was this; focus on characters and invest in good, solid character development. That's the one thing that I find lacking in most of CC's series; it is rich and abundant with comedy, SD expressions and sight gags, but light on stuff that makes readers feel kinship or closeness for the characters. In general, characters lack depth.
I personally didn't find Airee Collette, the cat-girl protagonist of comedy-fantasy title Cat's Trail , very engaging or sympathetic since you never actually ever got into her head. After 10 issues, I have no idea what kind of person she is, or if she even really cares about her compatriots Polaris and Butler. Why should I care about her when she seems outwardly to be a self-serving, larcenous pickpocket? I think it would benefit all the stories in CC if they show sides to each character which make them more human, rather than anime caricatures.

On the plus side, the latest issue of CC does indeed seem to be finally heading for more plot, with particularly status-quo shaking events happening in One Day, Isang Diwa. CC already has the production and art down pat; if they up the ante with likeable, deep characters and a compelling plot... that would be something to look forward to.

Now I have to keep upping the ante and pushing the envelope in Angel Ace as well. Heh.

X2: X-Men United


An X-cellent sequel.

Thanks to Cams, the whole gang (along with James of Culture Crash) spent the night watching the sequel to one of the best comic book-to-movie translations yet filmed. I've read tons of reviews raving about the film, about how it's SO much better than the original, and how kick-ass it is overall. So, how did I like it?

Pretty much, actually. Though I had issues. X2 is based on one of my most beloved comic stories of all: the original X-Men graphic novel, God Loves Man Kills. Well, X2 doesn't live up to the source material. Oh well. Taken as it is, though, the X2 movie really isn't bad at all. Yes, it IS better than the first movie. It ups the ante. It pushes the envelope and then some.
The returning X-Men cast have sunken into their roles more comfortably, though no one will obviously be winning any acting awards for this film. What makes up for this is the seemingly endless cascade of fanboy service, references to the comic books and a wealth of quite exceptionally shot and choreographed action sequences.

Minor Spoilers Ahead

Rating high on the Awesome scale for me in X2 are:

The brilliantly executed opening sequence in the White House. Nightcrawler is just perfectly realized, complete with German accent and brimstone. Can you say... BAMF? Heh. Teleportation rules.

Mystique KICKS ASS. And what a lovely ass that is, too. I just have to say that the movie version just blows away anything in the comics. Screw the Wolverine solo movie. Give Rebecca Romjin-Stamos a Mystique-starrer. All her scenes are action-packed and exciting, and she just dominates the screen whenever she appears. Bad to the bone she may be but I can't help but feel jealous at Magneto for having his own personal blue shapeshifter at his beck and call.

The assault on the mansion is tightly shot with the right amount of suspense, super powers and yes, berserker rage.

LOTS of X-kids seeing action. Kitty Pryde and a certain Russian...Heh.

Deathstrike is X2's version of Darth Maul. She kicks ass. She also hardly speaks...

Magneto's jailbreak. My God. I may just stop taking iron tablets now...

Pyro is X2's version of Anakin. This minor character has some hot scenes (heh).

Mutants versus mutants. Mutants versus soldier guys. Lots of action all around!

The Deathstrike-Wolverine duel. DAMN that must hurt...

And now, for the Not-so-Cool scale...

Brian Cox may be a great actor, but he just looks too nice and fatherly to me to be too menacing as villain William Stryker. And his tin soldiers just pale in comparison to the graphic novel's Purifiers...

Iceman goes home... Yawn...

The Blackbird versus the air force. No matter how cool, tornadoes just aren't as effective as missiles...

Deathstrike is X2's Darth Maul... which means she's way cool, but underused and won't be coming back for X3...

The finale was just overlong. Too many scenes, too many shifts and plot twists and events that kinda dragged, and it eventually bogged down and got awkward. Sigh. Still, comic fans will LOVE what happens in the end...

Professor X's heavy-handed visit to the President. I throw your line back to you, Professor. "Whenever you feel like showing off... Don't."

The BIG thing that happens in the end. No precursors to it. Where did that come from? Oh well. At least it bodes well for the future.

While this movie is entitled X-Men United, I am very sure each of us in the gang have VERY different opinions. But, after all is said and done, I liked it. A lot, actually. The show was exciting and breathtaking at parts, though there were some iffy parts and the final act kinda dragged. Still, the action rocked and the characters are still pretty cool and it can only get even better. At the very least I am looking forward to the DVD release. Yep, that will be swell.

Just give us more Mystique. More... Heh.

X-cited. X-static. X-pectant.

Tonight the gang will watch a premier showing of X2: X-Men United(Saw that coming, didn’t you?). The show starts (supposedly) early, so I will have to make it a point to disembark from the Salt Mines as soon as I can. To this end, I have already bribed several of the guards to allow me passage via an abandoned aqueduct. Several other prisoners from my cell block have been promised freedom as well. Little do they know all they will profit from distracting the main garrison will be a quick and painless death. Hahahaha…

Ahem. Predictably, there will be reviews aplenty from our blogger clique. Arnold has specifically asked me to either minimize or clearly mark any spoilers. Heh. Anyway, this sequel looks awesome, from the trailers and features I’ve watched online to the many rave reviews to the awesome source material; the first X-men graphic novel, God Loves Man Kills. I kinda know what happens since I ventured a look into the comic adaptation (I love spoilers) but I pretty much know that the comic adaptation is NOTHING like the actual film.
Hope this night will be free of any wrinkles, but I will expect a long, boring pre-movie show, long, crowded lines and your requisite struggle to get some decent popcorn.
On the other hand, I also hope for a healthy, entertaining conversation about the film after the show with the group.

Later then!

KICK ME! KICK ME! KICK ME!



Forgot that I deserve some butt-whupping after messing up the blog AGAIN after swearing just a day or two ago to never fiddle with the template at the office. Bad Mad. BAAAADDD...

Back to Abnormal

Thanks to our Webmistress Supreme, Cynthia, Stark Raving MAD's back to being it's eye-burning, rant and rave-filled self. Thanks, Cyn! WOOHOO!

Zsa Zsa Zaturnnah 2 Now Available!



The second and concluding part of the wonderfully hilarious and artistically brilliant comic, Ang Kagila-gilalas na Pakikipagsapalaran ni Zsa Zsa Zaturnnah, is now available!

To recap, Zsa Zsa is all about a gay beautician named Ada whose quiet life of working in his beauty parlor, dreaming about an impossible love with the cute guy next door and dealing with his sassy sidekick Didi is turned upside-down when a rock falls from the sky to hit him on the head while he was showering (exhale!). Like the magical stone from the Darna mythos, the rock imbues the person who swallows it and utters the word ‘Zaturnnah’ with super abilities. It also, apparently, causes a gender switch, turning gay Ada into a totally female sex bomb superheroine named Zsa Zsa!
In the first issue, Zsa Zsa battles several threats that appear from out of nowhere to menace his/her hometown; first a giant frog, and then a plague of zombies. Fortunately, Zsa Zsa is able to conquer along with the aid of her friends, Dodong and Didi. However, the real threat revealed itself at the end… in the form of Alien Women from Outer Space calling themselves The Amazonistas from Planet XXxxx…

In the concluding issue, Zsa Zsa must gather all her courage, strength and hutzpah to take on the Amazonistas, particularly their Queen; the hifallutin' Femina. The Battle of The Sexes begins like you’ve never seen it before!

Anyone who reads Zsa Zsa simply has to fall in love with the wonderfully hilarious dialogue (which contains quite a lot of tagalog and local references), the brilliant art and action sequences and fresh presentation. Aside from the action and comedy, Zsa Zsa also has deeper and less obvious themes of being honest and true to one’s self, the need for love and acceptance and the courage to go on with or without it, and the true meaning of being a hero. I heartily recommend this to anyone who loves to laugh, cry and simply have fun with a good story, comics or not.
Zsa Zsa # 2 (Art and Story by Carlo Vergara) is sold at Comic Quest for Php120. Get your copy NOW before they run out!

And in closing, congratulations to Carl for selling through the roof and breaking even with the first issue! Zsa Zsa’s a certified hit! And for the record, I AM serious about that Angel-Zsa Zsa crossover, Carl. Heh...

Blood-soaked Battle Royale 2 Trailer!

The latest trailer to the late Kinji Fukasaku's black-comedy/social commentary/survival-action classic, Battle Royale, has hit the web. Upping the ante by about 200 percent, BR2 takes place some time after the first movie and yet again throws a batch of young Japanese teens into a meat grinder of a situation. The new batch of fresh meat, er, talent is pitted against the survivors of the first film (Shuya Nanahara, who's now a professional revolutionary and terrorist). Many of the scenes remind me of the Omaha beach landing scene from Saving Private Ryan. Except in Japanese. Heh.
The bad news is that the trailer is in Windows Media, not Quicktime. Still, see it if you're a BR fan. Lots of blood, violence and Japanese screaming. Oh, my. Download the BR2 trailer here.

Comic Quest Blog

My friend Vinnie, owner/proprietor of my favorite blood donation center, Comic Quest, has finally been persuaded (he'd say coerced... don't mind him) into entering the wonderful world of blogging. Vin's a writer and a romantic at heart, and without a doubt has tons of stuff to talk and write about; from the endless parade of customers and personalities he has to deal and converse with over the counter, to the wealth of fantasy stories he has gleaned from a lifetime of living and working around comics and toys (He's working on his future opus, Twilight Empires, even now). Check out his new blog, My Life As A Bed.

TechTV Farewells

WAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!!!! My favorite show on TechTV, Extended Play, is over. It's being retired. It's gone. This gaming reviews, previews and news show, hosted by game-guru Adam Sessler was so entertaining for me... I could watch episodes again and again. And I did, since they rotated episodes and showed them daily, slipping in reviews and features like lego bricks to make up a show. Yes, new reviews and nuggest of updated info came few and far between, but the show was funny and cool. It will be missed.
The good news though is that it will be replaced by X-Play (heh), a late night show that will feature edgier content. Described as a 'level up' from before, XP will feature more cutting-edge game reviews, news and previews. Adam will continue to give his prickly comments, hatred for cut scenes and other quirks, together with a new co-host, Morgan Webb (from The Screensavers).
On a less happy note, I finally found out that resident geek Chris Pirillo has indeed left Call For Help for some reason. I actually realized this when I saw the animated intro of the show feature a cartoon of Leo Laporte (The Screensavers) rather than the bespectacled gnome. Oh well. Things change, I guess.

Coming Soon

Yeah, X2 aka X-Men United is coming within the next couple of weeks, but there are a lot of films coming that have me excited. This is aside from Return of The King and The Matrix sequels, mind you.
There's Identity, a whodunit-murder mystery thriller set in a secluded inn/motel cut off by rain and flood. By what first seems coincidence a large group of strangers congregates, coinciding with the approaching execution of a serial killer. Soon though, people start dying in morbid ways and it soon becomes apparent that nothing was coincidental, nothing random, nothing is what it seems. A killer is among them, and his... or her... identity will only be revealed after more blood and chills are let loose. This puzzling thriller stars John Cusack and Ray Liotta.

Pirates of the Carribean: The Curse of the Black Pearl is a period fantasy film where a cursed, undead band of cutthroats (led by Geoffrey 'It's Captain Amazink' Rush) is seeking the many pieces of Inca gold that turned them into skeletal ghouls. Orlando 'Legolas' Bloom plays a young blacksmith whose fiancee was kidnapped by the undead pirates. To save her, Bloom teams up with a scruffy Johnny 'You've bewitched me' Depp, who plays Captain Sparrow, a pirate himself who seems to have a link with Rush and his mates. Lots of swashbuckling, swordfighting, musket-firing, skeleton fighting action here.

The Real Cancun is a big-screen version of The Real World; the first reality-TV show to make it to movie screens. Basically it's what you'd expect of a Spring Break movie... lots of T&A from various young, attractive nobodies, drinking and implied sex. I've read some reviews that this movie is pretty much crap, but hey... It's crap with lots of T&A! Heh-heh... Umm... Yeeeesss....

Sinbad: Legends of the Seven Seas is the next animated film from Dreamworks/SKG. It's animation style is similar to that of Road to El Dorado and Prince of Egypt, predictably. Besides that though, the material gives to tons of swashbuckling action, CG sea monsters that are either intentionally made rough (to emulate the classic Harryhausen stop-motion stuff) or just plain bad. Anyway, Brad 'What's in the box...?' Pitt voices Sinbad, and there are reportedly some pretty BAD (as in, not good) lines like 'Who's BAD? SinBAD!'. Groan. On the good side, there's a sexy femme fatale love interest and a slinky villainess, so this may not be too bad. Heh.

Check out the trailers for these films and more at the Apple Movie Trailers page.

Vampire in Outer Space

Just watched an episode of Andromeda, the sci-fi action series on AXN starring Kevin 'Hercules' Sorbo. While I usually don't watch this series (not particularly because it's bad or anything... just never really got into it), the Buffy fan in me found it neat that James 'Spike' Marsters was a guest star. Marsters' character was a powerful official named Charlemagne Bolivar whom Captain Dylan Hunt (Sorbo) has to convince to join the Commonwealth of Worlds (an alliance of good planets Hunt is trying to rebuild). When a mysterious enemy attacks, Bolivar takes up arms alongside Hunt, and in the end joins the Commonwealth.
Sadly though, we probably won't be seeing Spike back in Andromeda; this episode was apparently Marsters' only appearance in the series. Despite the reported popularity of the kick-ass character of Charlemagne, apparently the producers wouldn't pay Marsters' price to reprise the role. Oh well.
What's funny though is that despite being galaxies away from Sunnydale, he STILL looks like Spike. I guess slicked-back blonde hair and long leather overcoats are universally cool. Heh.

Local Comic Gems


The catch of the night: Grafic and Culture Crash 10

I picked up a copy of the Atenean student comic anthology, Grafic. Dean recommended this gem to me and I agree... there's good stuff between them covers. There are interesting articles and editorials on the comic medium, a look at the finalists of Likha, a comic-making contest held on campus, and some really engaging pages of sequential art. Andrew Drilon's White, the winner of the comic contest, is a spooky yet beautifully-told tale that really deserves the win. Then there are some other wonderful panels, including a story about the battle between Ferdinand Magellan and Lapu-Lapu.
The art styles vary a lot; there are quite a few manga artists in the book, though more experimental art styles are on feature. There's a whole lot of promise, raw talent and enthusiasm in the young people who made this book... These are the next generation of artists and writers, hopefully. Makes me kinda wince that I didn't have an org like that way back in my college days. Back then, comics were all superheroes and kidstuff. How the world has changed since then; today, comics and art is a viable option for employment for the ambitious and skilled, and it's being taught in colleges (albeit still rarely). Great!
Grafic: Words-Pictures-Comics is available at Comic Quest branches. Forgot how much it is, but it's worth every peso. Get it and read it! Who knows... you might be inspired to do comics too!

On a sidenote, I also got a copy of Culture Crash 10, which was promptly scooped up by Angel. Check out her thoughts on it at her blog, Straight from the Angel's Mouth.

Angel has a blog!


When she's not sitting on ledges, Angel watches lots of anime.

I've decided to revamp my anime blog, MAD About Anime and wouldn't you know it... Angel volunteered to write it. Before I knew it, she made it totally her own! Heh. I guess she got bored watching TechTV (She likes Cris Purillo for some reason)and playing Xbox games with Rip. For the best anime news, reviews and views this side of Newhaven City, visit Straight From the Angel's Mouth!

Forceful Billboard

Near White Plains there's a spot where a billboard for Kamiseta is usually found. Well, today I saw that the Mandy Moore (Want Moore?) board's gone, replaced by a black teaser billboard with copy that goes: "Kamiseta is reaching for the Stars. May the Force be with you."
Okay, since Carrie Fisher is probably too old to be a Kamiseta girl, I'm probably guessing a certain former Queen of Naboo-turned Galactic Senator who was a professional hitman's little sidekick in another life is going to start modelling for Kamiseta. Just a guess.

Brand New Ride


The new MRT is big, sleek and new, with a purple-yellow color scheme.

I was finally able to snap pics of the brand new MRT that runs from East to West in Metro Manila. At present, the trains only have a limited range and running time; basically from the Santolan station to Cubao, and only during rush hours (6-9 AM and 5-8 PM). The ride costs 12 pesos, which is worth it if you're going for speed and avoiding traffic.
The MRT stations are spiffy new, and, blank. People probably don't know much about the MRT, or as yet don't consider it worth the effort given the limited range. They're big places, and pretty cool. The trains themselves are large, maybe 25% larger, wider and a whole lot longer than the Edsa MRT cars. I simply cannot picture these big trains filled to capacity since they're so large. Eventually the trains will be fully operational and hopefully make commuting a whole lot easier.


The cars are spacious and cool... for now.

Dark Angels


More kick-ass girlpower manga from the Angel Ace guy.

I’m not just into Angel Ace. I’m thinking of doing this series someday. Perhaps sooner than anyone may think. It’s still in the design stage though. I may post designs and sketches soon. What do you think, guys?

Ninjinn
Genre: Fantasy/Action

The Concept: In an arid, Arabian fantasy world, the Ninjinn are powerful female spirits whose life forces are bound to magical rings. Whomever holds one of these rare mystical artifacts gains the services of these magical assassins without peer. Be careful of what you wish of the Ninjinn… for all they can grant is a lingering, tortuous death.
The Ninjinn series will be an anthology of different stories of Ninjinn serving various masters; from helping an young slavegirl free her tribe to carrying out a vile warlord’s bloody purges. The only thing that is constant are the Ninjinn’s beauty and lethal prowess. In the course of the various stories, we learn the origins of the mist-cloaked assassins and their own super-secret, hidden agenda.

This series should be close to my heart since it's all about sexy kick-butt girls, cloak and dagger stuff, secret plans and long-term plots, fancy magic and swordplay. It's also a LOT darker than Angel Ace or anything I've done so far, so it should be a challenge. We'll see about getting deeper into this idea soon; at least after I get the next Angel Ace issue behind me.

Fantasy Film Ranting

I love Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings movies. Love them to death. For the first time ever, a filmmaker was actually able to pluck the images of epic, high fantasy right from the synapses of my brain and onto celluloid. DAMN that prologue battle scene between Gil-Galad, Elrond, Isildur and company and Freaking Sauron was awesome. I remember when I first saw it, my mind was screaming COOLNESS. I yelped with each swing of that elf-hurling mace. A chill went up my spine seeing that line of elite Elf footmen with those double-headed polearms blunt that orcish mob. DAMN.
And to think that just a scant couple of years ago, the high fantasy epic film was basically non-existent. Dragonslayer was great with wonderful effects (for the time) and atmosphere, but it was about a waning world with one last dragon (reflected many years later by that dodgy Dragonheart farce with Sean Connery). We wanted a fantasy world in its prime. There was Willow, but while I love that film (I know a lot of people don’t, some of my friends included) I recognize that it is far from being an epic fantasy. It was more action fantasy, a buddy-movie that could have been titled Two Men and a Baby and the Evil Empire. Heh.
Remember Wizards and Warriors? It was a somewhat short TV series which was based on the Dungeons and Dragons game (though apparently the producers weren’t able to afford the license, so they just made their own generic world). I can’t recall all the cast members, but I do remember that Duncan Regehr was there as the charismatic but evil Prince Dirk Blackpoole. Strong-jawed TV series actress Randi Brooks (she appeared in Last Precinct; Police Academy on TV) played the evil sorceress Bethel. Other characters include the good guys Prince Eric Greystone, his portly but mighty sidekick Marco (heh), the evil wizard Vector and a Dumbledore-ish mentor wizard.
Wizards and Warriors was pretty strong and ambitious in the action part of the fantasy genre, with swordfights and deathtraps, monsters and spells. Reportedly each episode cost about a million dollars to produce, but still the limitations showed. Well, it was done before the time of the Herculeses and Xenases of the world, so that made it a pioneer. It didn’t last long, but you have to love it at least for having chapter breaks similar to The Wild Wild West.
And then there’s the much abhorred, infamous and totally horrible Dungeons and Dragons movie. Let me say that an episode of Wizards and Warriors is preferable to this turdpile. It has the distinction of having an infinite well of heroes, settings, mythologies, storylines and other treasures to dip into… but ignoring all that in favor of a script that an orc with an intelligence of 4 could have written better.
DRAGONLANCE would have been better. Anything in the Forgotten Realms would have been better. Or Greyhawk. Or Athas (but did anyone ever really PLAY Dark Sun?). But noooo... the producer/director has this story he thought up while in the crapper...
The wonders of this film experience include a party of ‘heroes’ which include a Wesley Crusher lookalike, a Wayans brother (whose death in the film was one of the few joys), an elf whose natural skills are limited to spouting out cryptic lines and looking prissy, a dwarf whom Ghimli (in LOTR) would not mourn if he got skewered by an orc, and a magic user who can’t cast a single spell without a bag of ‘magic powder’.
Ranged against them… a ranting Jeremy Irons as the evil archmage who is lacking a curled moustache to complete his image and a bald, BLUE-lipsticked warlord (played by the same guy who played the villain in the Wesley Snipes’s thriller Passenger 57) who speaks at the rate of one word per second (That is painfully slow, mind you).

SEE! A Beholder appear (Audience squeals in delight) and then be distracted by a thrown rock (so I guess all those eyestalks can’t actually see) to disappear forever despite the alarm being rung some minutes later (Audience groans).
SEE! A whole sequence that would have explained a lot of the hole-ridden plot and drive the heroes’ quest be totally passed over as an unseen event.
SEE! A funny sequence where an army of armoured soldiers in flaming red stand right outside a bar and NOT be noticed at all.
SEE! Two professional thieves sneak after someone like they are sneaking after someone.
SEE! A perilous, unending, legendary labyrinth (overseen by Crystal Maze’s Richard O’Brien no less) that consists of a couple of rooms in a straight line.
SEE! Our low-level thief hero defeat an obviously high-level fighter despite not having levelled-up any (maybe his sword was +20).
HEAR! D&D terms being forcefit into regular conversation. ("You're so dumb, you must have had a feeblemind spell on you!").
SEE! A crappy CG dragon finale battle with Thora Birch (who is playing a childlike Empress… maybe she wandered off from Neverending Story).
REALIZE! That if the heroes didn’t go on their stupid quest in the first place, everything would be a whole lot better.
Ah. There is so much more to appreciate in the horrors of the Dungeons and Dragons movie, but suffice to say that you have to see it for yourself to get the whole experience. Seek it out, and then bask in the glory of LOTR after.

Ah, the Lord of the Rings films. Bliss. Thanks be. Thanks be.

Thus enduth the rant. Heh.

Train of Thought


Advertising on tracks.

Advertising is getting everywhere. I arrived at the Cubao MRT station train platform to suddenly find myself staring at a very green MRT car. I blinked once, twice... the green color didn't come off. Several cars of the train had been painted over to look like a big, moving billboard. I've seen advertising all over the MRT station but never before on the actual trains; Buses have been used in this way, and now I guess even the MRT is now fair game for media spending. I guess it makes sense; the trains are seen by thousands of people everyday, and by a definite market/kind of consumer. Pretty smooth marketing. Not that I am outraged or anything; actually it might be pretty neat to see what the art directors can think of to best use the space.

After work I went to Comic Quest and showed the latest pages of Angel Ace to Vinnie and Carl. For dinner I tried out a new pizza stand called Papa Heinz's. Now, it labelled itself as 'The German Pizza'. How did it taste? Well, the pizza crust was bread-like, soft and spongy; the cheese was plentiful but there was only ONE slice of pepperoni on each slice. Sorry to say, it didn't have the pizza taste that I crave. I guess there's a reason why the best pizzas come from Italy...
Anyway, as Cams, Carl and I were headed home, Vinnie pulled a fast one and drew blood from me a day before the traditional bloodletting day. He sold the latest issue of New X-men to Carl. I scanned through the pages and was immediately hooked. DAMN! Now I have to buy the rest of this 5-issue arc. Oh well.

Gotta finish the latest Angel issue. Gotta find the money to fund it. Gotta release soon. Lots of stuff to do. Gotta do it! Heh.

Death By Chocolate

I was finally able to try out recently the sweet, guilty pleasures of Bizzu, a fancy coffee/dessert place at the new Greenbelt mall in Makati.
I entered it one afternoon upon the recommendation of a friend that the place served the absolute BEST hot chocolate ever. I went alone, ready to spend a bit since the ambience boded a pricey stay. Readily, I ordered the regular cup of hot chocolate. Though that was the only thing I actually wanted at first, I eventually decided to try one of the simply gorgeous-looking cakes. After troubling over the things (each of which looked like a mini sculpture) a couple of minutes, I finally decided on the Samba, a mousse made with a variety of chocolates.
The hot chocolate passed through my lips and down my throat like liquid love (which chocolate is, supposedly). DAMN. Literally like a melted chocolate bar. DAAAAAMMMN. As for the cake, it was cool and creamy and the milk chocolate blended with the dark perfectly. My Gosh. I ate bites of Samba between gulps of hot chocolate. Wow. After a while, the richness got to me, and I was having difficulty finishing the cup. The cake eventually went down, but I ultimately surrendered and left a drop or two of liquid love in the cup. Too... much... sweetness... Aaaah...

Anyway, the cake cost about P90, and the hot chocolate P75. Pricey, but the richness was worth it. Hard to finish by any measure for one person; perfect for couples. Caution... Death by Chocolate is a very real possibility. Heh. Visit Bizzu at the new Greenbelt Mall, on the side fronting Coronado Lanes. Bring a friend.

Throttling Angels

The first Charlie's Angels movie was fun. Yes, it ripped off Matrix fight scenes and had lots of embarrasing wirework, but it was fun. The girls' characters were engaging and the action was pretty fast and furious. Yeah, US films still have a ways to go before they really do decent martial arts movies, but this was just too energetic and bubbly to feel bad about. So it was that I am looking forward to the sequel, Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle, this summer. Hey, I really like kick-butt girl movies.
Once again, the new Angels get together: Rebellious wildchild Dylan (Drew Barrymore), ultracompetent Alex (Lucy Liu) and ditzy but superbrain and superbod Natalie (Cameron Diaz). They are joined by a new Bosley (played by comedian Bernie Mac, who replaced Bill Murray from the first film).
The plot this time around seems to concern some ultrasecret weapons system that is in danger of falling into the wrong hands (again), and only the invincible trio can stop the baddies. This time around, hot momma Demi Moore plays the Big Bad, apparently a former Charlie's Angel herself. Returning from the first film is Crispin Glover AKA The Creepy Thin Man whom I didn't see in the trailer but will probably be aching to get back at the Angels for kicking his scrawny butt the last time.
You can check out the hot, bikini girl surfing, extreme sports riding, martial arts kicking, fiery explosion blasting action in the trailer here.

Emerging into Easter

Ah! It's nice to emerge from the Biosphere Sanctum. I've been cooped up inside since Thursday. Food supplies were running low, though I learned that cable power pretty much ran the place without need to resorting to anime or dvd supplies. I actually wasn't able to reduce my vcd and dvd backlog too much; I did have a marathon of sorts of the adventure/comedy series Groove Adventure Rave, and finally watched the Cowboy Bebop movie.
For the most part though, I was able to draw a lot of pages for my comic. As of this writing I have pencilled about fifteen pages for the new issue. It takes place right after the first story arc, and comes back to our heroes in Newhaven City. Angel has decided to stay with Mike and Rip for a while, but not all is well with the world as a certain masked psychopathic villain returns for a little retribution. Yep, Sorcerer's back and he's got himself some new toys to even the odds with Angel...
This short story may run for about 30 or so pages, and I hope to ink, render and finish it in the next few weeks. Then it's off to the harder part... publishing it. I am still in a deadlock on whether I should actually treat it as a real issue, publishing house and all, or as a smaller 'ashcan' book? If it's the former, I have to start bringing together funds immediately. Well, it looks great... not the Anthology I was hoping for, but if I put together some pinups and art along with the main story and add a nice fan-made comic with it, this should be a nice one-shot issue. It's been awhile since the last Angel Ace, so this should be special.
Well, that's that. Easter Sunday's here. Gotta enjoy it while it lasts... back to the salt mines tomorrow. Oh well.

YES!!!!


Out in September.

If I told you anymore about this DVD set, I'd have to kill you.

Virtual Luminol


Grissom decides what color toe tag will match the victim's pedicure.

I finally got to play the CSI: Crime Scene Investigations PC game. I'm a big fan of the Jerry Bruckheimer-produced series about forensic experts. Now, you too can join Grissom, Catherine, Sarah and the rest of the CSI team as they investigate several cases of murder whose secrets are just aching to be uncovered.
The game is divided into cases; like mini-episodes in the show. Each case starts with the familiar panning shot of nighttime Las Vegas (like the TV series), and then you go into Chief Grissom's office. You're the newbie, a rookie dropped into the middle of the action thanks to some manpower shortage. Soon enough you're poking at dead bodies, examining virtual crime scenes for clues and evidence and consulting with the other CSI crewmembers for likely suspects. Of course, the TV cast lend their voices to the game for added authenticity.
As a game, CSI isn't all that. It's pretty much a matter of finding clues and fitting them into the appropriate lab machine, expert or option. Correct choices will unlock more locations, suspects and evidence. Get enough to incriminate a suspect, you'll be able to call on Captain Brass to pick up the perps and close the case. It all depends on how sharp-eyed, precise or just plain meticulous you are with looking through the crime scenes.
Unfortunately, the 3-D crime scenes where you are supposed to be able to range through and search aren't as deep or as detailed as I expected. It's all pretty shallow, and not too interactive. And as a result, once you finish the game perfect once, it's over. Done. End. Finished.
On the good side, the game DOES have the real actors voicing their virtual counterparts; Grissom's penchant for mouthing out obscure facts is spot on; some voices just sound pretty funny, particularly Greg Sanders in the lab ("You can't put THAT in the microscope.").
The game looks great, though the CG models and scenes are pretty stiff but adequate. Of course, the game comes complete with the zippy zooms into the dead bodies demonstrating particularly chunky revelations like breaking vertebrae caused by strangulation, and misty re-enactments of the crimes. Too bad though that the game just isn't as deep or as playable as it could have been.
Still, it's a cool little activity for fans of the game. Try it out if you want to carry out your forensic fantasies for a couple of short but sweet cases.

Lackluster Trailers

Speaking of trailers that don't get my blood moving, there's Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines. Now, a couple of years ago this would have been something; female terminator T-X (Terminatrix?) locking horns with the once-virile but now only venerable T-800 (Ah-nuld Schwarzenegger for those who've been in stasis all this time). However, it just doesn't look great. The T-X is a blonde model in tight brown leather who sports that same shark-like expression Robert Patrick used well in T2... but it just comes off as weak. The action doesn't look particularly cool or groundbreaking, and really... it all just sounds like a bad idea. Now, maybe T3 will at least be a good ending or at least have enough action to satisfy me eventually but... the trailer, like Tomb Raider 2's... isn't helping convince me.
Ah, I remember that old Cliffhanger trailer (Sylvester Stallone movie) which was SOOOOO great, it was tons better to watch that looping than the actual film. They don't really make trailers like that anymore. Is it a vanishing art? Maybe. Sigh. Well, I'm saying that now. Perhaps I'll change my tune when the next LOTR trailer appears.

Anyway, the X2 trailer has got me pumped for the next Mutant movie, as well as the Matrix Reloaded spot, which just kicks butt. May is looking to be the great Summer movie roundup. Then it's all downhill to the second half of 2003.

Dusty Tombs

Ah, love the vacation. I am still debating on whether I should venture out or just remain indoors. I've already started pencilling new pages for Angel Ace, for an ashcan-segue issue I want to release before Angel Ace Next. I should strike while the iron's hot, so to speak. But then again, I should also try to pass by Comic Quest for the weekly bloodletting before everything really closes down by Good Friday.
Anyway, the TV's on HBO showing Tomb Raider while I am writing this. Now, while I love the character and the games, the movie is just... boring as hell. The action's good when it happens, but that's like only a few points scattered throughout a whole lot of lethargic sequences where nothing exciting or compelling happens. Really, the only reason I like it is just because of Angelina Jolie. Heh.
Sad to say, the Tomb Raider sequel, Cradle of Life, doesn't seem to up the ante any bit. I've seen the trailer, and was NOT impressed at all. I just hope that this has a reverse effect of meaning that the 2nd TR movie is actually pretty good... otherwise, it's strike two. I'd like to see Angelina continue to wield those twin guns though... Sigh.

Holy Week Agenda

Everyone and their next-door neighbor is headed for beaches and resorts this long Holy Week break, but of course I will be staying in the Sanctum for the duration. Which I feel is the best, after all.
No long, carsickness-inducing trips. No nightmarish luggage mishaps. No sparsely-furnished rooms or accomodations to worry about. No need to spend on mundane stuff blown overpriced by ambience. No danger of SARS from foreigners. Heh.
Nope. For the Holy Week I will be enjoying the Sanctum's cold, climate-controlled snugness. With the opportunity to sink into the Bean Throne and finally finish Suikoden III. Or play more DOAX. Or play Soul Calibur 2. Or any of the dozen or so PS2 and Xbox games I have accumulated and have not even broken the surfaces of.
Or I can finally get to view the pile of VCDs and DVDs of both anime and live-action films that have gathered on my tukador; Full Metal Panic, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex, Earth Girl Arjuna, FLCL, Hellsing, Zhang Yimou's Hero, So Close, Shaolin Soccer and more... lots more.
Darn. How did I get all those things together? Well, it's not like there won't be anything to watch thanks to cable... At the very least I can watch Kim Possible...
Or, I can also get down to finally starting and hopefully finishing the next Angel Ace comic... need to do more pages and art. Hmm. This may be the crucial time for my manga-baby. Gotta decide now.

Ah. Time. Time is all we have.

Ninja Napkin Girl


A ninja girl of the Kotex Newtex clan girds for a mission.

By now my latest TV commercial, a spot for Kotex Newtex feminine napkins, has been shown (and is showing) on Philippine TV. The ad starts with a pretty but sad and slow-moving lass dressed in vaguely oriental themed attire inching her way across a college walkway to her waiting friends. When her friends ask her why she's so slow, she says it's because of her period. Of course, her pals give her the new Kotex Newtex napkin and in no time, she's zipping like a ninja all over the place.
The ad features a very pretty model named Nicole Hernandez. Not only does Nicole bear a striking resemblance to HK actress Zhang Zi Yi (in some angles she brings to mind local star Claudine Barretto), she can also move quite gracefully. She actually wasn't our first choice; we already had set our sights on another girl when we were given a tape showing the models in action, doing runs and jumps. Nicole struck us with her natural grace and athleticism, and she was our girl right there and then.
Later, she did excellently especially during the running sequences, where she really gave the impression that she could give ninja (or at least Jennifer Garner in Alias) a good chase. Heh. Anyway, we shot for two days at the campus of the Polytechnic University of the Philippines, using every bit of sunlight and most of the night. In the end we came out with a fun, cool ad, which I really love seeing. I just hope it makes the sales for our client go up. That will make them do even cooler ads in the future.

Well, that's that. On to the next job...

Matrix Stuff

If you guys haven't already seen it, head on over to The Matrix website to download the exciting final trailer for The Matrix Reloaded. For those who haven't been on the Net religiously monitoring this series, Reloaded continues the adventures of Neo, Trinity and Morpheus (Keanu Reeves, Carrie-Anne Moss and Laurence Fishburne respectively) and the few free humans battling the machines both in the blasted future world and in the imaginary/virtual world of the Matrix. Despite finally discovering he is The One and gaining superhuman abilities within the Matrix, Neo still has to fight some dangerous foes, including more Agents and evil programs (like the mysterious albino twins who seem to have some teleporting/phantom abilities) including a returning Agent Smith (Hugo Weaving; whom we expect now to greet Neo with "Welcome to Rivendell, Frodo Baggins...") who has gained the ability to 'clone' himself, and more.
As chronicled in the Animatrix episode Final Flight of the Osiris, the machines have discovered where the humans' city of Zion is, and are laying siege to the stronghold. The only hope lies in Neo... but can even his powers defeat the seemingly unstoppable machines?
New to the Matrix movie are of course the characters of Niobe (Jada Pinkett-Smith) and Ghost (Russell Wong), who will be making their debut in the Enter the Matrix videogames.
It all happens this May!
And of course, Matrix fans will probably want to download and watch the latest Animatrix episode, Detective Story, from the Matrix site as well. Yet another excellently-animated short, this one has the extra bonus of having Trinity play a role in the story. See it now!

Rice Burger not too nice

Yesterday I had to go to WORK yet again, doing some revisions on a rush-rush radio commercial. Luckily I was able to take a break and walk around the mall at Makati Cinema Square. While there, I decided to go into the nearby McDonalds and taste their latest schtick food offering; The Rice Burger. Yep! A patty of meat and barbecue sauce in between two rice cakes.
Well, it sucks. I'll tell you why.
First of all... it's HOT! As I held it in my hands, I felt like Otto from Raiders of the Lost Ark when he grabbed a red-hot amulet. AAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!! I guess it needs to be hot since the rice buns have to be kept soft (if they grow cold, they become hard and not presentable). Need to wrap another layer around it when you hold it, like a napkin.
Second, it's messy. There's sauce traces all around the wrapper insides, and it doesn't look anything like the neat, perfect product shots in the TV commercial or print ads. It looks like a dirty sushi. A big dirty sushi. And unlike bread, which you can touch without effect, the rice leaves a sticky mess on your fingers.
Third. The meat isn't too tasty. At least not enough to offset the slightly burnt flavor of the rice.
Overall, the rice just doesn't feel or taste too well. It IS like having puto (rice cakes) with meat, and it's not too delicious or pleasing. There's a reason why we use bread for sandwiches, and rice for meals. This little gimmick just doesn't work.

Well, the rice burger came with a combo, so at least I had a softdrink and a sundae cone to take away the taste. I finished the radio commercial, sold it to client and had the usual Saturday Night Out with the gang (which was basically sitting at Chili's making fun of the UFC on TV). Ah. Holy Week is coming with the long vacation. Finally, rest. That's gonna be good.

Angel Art


Angel on a ledge.

Here's a nice artwork I made of Angela Gale AKA Angel Ace, my original manga character. She's just kicking back, enjoying the free night air as she watches the lights of the sleeping city. Like the toe ring? Heh.
I'm currently working on the next Angel Ace issue, with help from some friends. I'm hoping to release this Angel Anthology within the year. At the very least, I want to release a prelude to this, perhaps an ashcan-type comic with pinups, art, character designs and info, and maybe a mini-story, soon. We'll see what happens...


I like the nightlife!

The Ghost Surfer

Now, I still seem to be tone-deaf when it comes to Third Eyes and sensing the supernatural, but this seemed pretty interesting. A new trainee at the office (who sits right behind me in our area) was working alone a few days ago. It was in the afternoon and the rest of the people where on a training seminar, so he had the room to himself. As he was working, he heard the distinct sound of mouse-clicking (as in computer mouse). At that time he dismissed it as maybe sounds coming from the adjacent offices. Never mind that he was quite sure that there was no one else in the immediate area.
Then, some days later, the same guy was working late. It was just before midnight, and he was finishing up his load when, once again, he heard the telltale mouse clicks.
The clicks were, in his words, VERY close. It was as if someone was leisurely surfing. Almost certainly within the area, but there was no one else there… or in any of the nearby rooms.
The final straw came however, when the lights started flickering.

Needless to say, he decided it was time to call it a day.

Now, I’ve worked late in the office myself many, many times, but I’ve never encountered such things… though I have at times decided to hold off the call of nature when I saw that the CR lights were out (and I don’t know where the light switch is). We just moved into our new area, but I’ve never heard of ghosts or eerie events there before. Then again, prior to the Creative Team moving into the area, the place was the Finance Department… maybe they were just too occupied with numbers and figures to notice spooky stuff. Heh.

Interesting. Intriguing. Not enough to make my equivalent of The Ring, but still pretty cool.

Dead or Alive Motion Picture Coming Soon!


The DOA girls get some beauty rest in preparation for their movie debut.

Now this is news close to my videogaming heart. Plans for a Dead or Alive motion picture have finally been cemented, according to a report by Reuters and the movie trade magazine, The Hollywood Reporter. The film is apparently under the wing of Impact Pictures, a company which is a veteran of videogame-to-movie conversions (they handled the first Mortal Kombat movie, and Resident Evil.
According to Paul Anderson (Impact), the movie can be described as ‘Charlie’s Angels meets Enter the Dragon’.
The story will focus on about six characters from the movie, with special emphasis on four female protagonists. The DOA girls, both beautiful and well-versed in the martial arts, are invited by Fame Douglas (a corporate magnate with shady connections from the game’s storylines) to take part in the Dead or Alive fighting tournament. The action will supposedly be set on an exotic island. The writer for the film is reportedly JF Lawton, known for penning the scripts for Pretty Woman and Under Siege.
Unlike the more mystical and fantasy-based Mortal Kombat movies/games, DOA will be set more or less in ‘reality’(No otherdimensional overlords molesting the DOA girls? Aw nuts...). Fans of the game will be treated to a film that remains loyal to the game’s essential principles, while mainstream and non-gamer audiences can still look forward to a fun, enjoyable and sexy popcorn movie. The PG-13 film will also feature at least one scene of ‘babes in bikinis’, a tribute no doubt to the sexy DOA game spin-off, Dead or Alive Xtreme Beach Volleyball. DOAX has sold close to 500,000 copies worldwide since it’s release.
The DOA movie will reportedly be released together with Dead or Alive 4, the latest DOA fighting game, in late 2004. Since that’s still a ways off, gamers will be glad to know that Tecmo is set to release Dead or Alive: Code Chronos in Fall 2003. Chronos is rumored to be a spinoff fighting/action game based on past games in the Dead or Alive series. Just what it is exactly may be finally revealed in the upcoming E3 2003.

While I am having so much fun with DOAX, I am really looking forward to DOA Code Chronos; though just what exactly it IS remains a mystery to this day. Hopefully there will still be as much trademark DOA cheesecake and fan service in it as much as action…
As for the DOA movie... well... there really hasn't been much success in fighting game movies. The Streetfighter movie sucked, and the Tekken anime was horrible (the live-action movie was plagued and doomed even before it started). Double Dragon... Ugh... that second Mortal Kombat film... GGGGUUUUHHH...
But then again, Dead or Alive is all about butt-kicking, sexy babes. You'd have to be really bad to mess that up... right? Just get great casting for the characters, a damn good fight choreographer and wirework (easy on the Matrix stuff and zippy editing though) and a reasonable script and... it may be a nice, enjoyable, popcorn movie. If it's at least as cool as the first Charlie's Angels film was, I'll be pleased.
Crossing fingers now.

Pinay in fighting game!


"Kamusta, kabayan! Ako si Talim from the Fiesta islands in the Philippines! Mabuhay!

Yep, there's finally a Filipino character in the colorful world of videogames. That character is Talim, a female fighter who uses the Kali martial art in the awesome new weapons fighter, Soul Calibur 2! Described as a priestess of the wind, Talim is one of the elite fighters out to find the fragments of the evil sword, Soul Edge. Her fighting style is fast, in-your-face and nasty... MABANGIS! Heheh.
If you want to learn more about Talim and her back story, click here.

Soul Calibur 2 (import/Japanese version) is already out in Japan for the PS2, Gamecube and Xbox. A US release is scheduled in August 2003.

Funny Copy

I was surfing around the net and came to Jabootu, a 'bad movie' site. Scanning through the coming Cheezy films of 2003, one particular entry had me laughing out loud. It was for a movie called Vampire Assassin by Cinetel productions. The tagline read, "To kill an army of vampires, you must become one."
So... how does one become an army of vampires? Heheheheheh...

Check out the site for a list of upcoming corny and cheezy movies, and quite a few laughs.

Training Day

Today is the day that I first rode the new MRT which travels west-east along Marcos Hi-way to Aurora Boulevard all the way to Recto. After several years of traffic caused by construction, the wait has finally paid off. My mom informed me that the trains were operational, and had been since President Macapagal’s birthday recently. Woohoo!

There are a few cons, though. The nearest station to my house at Katipunan is a WALK. About ten minutes at least, uphill. Well, I get exercise. Anyway, once I got to the station, I was kinda amazed that there seemed to be no one entering the place. But there was of course the large streamer announcing the ‘Libreng Sakay’ (Free Rides) which would last until tomorrow. As I stepped towards the security guards, I was asked from which office I was. I was at a loss of words for a second and was on the verge of flashing my agency ID when the female guard finally realized I was a passenger. Heh.
The Katipunan MRT station is underground, and pretty impressive actually for its size. The place was empty, clean and cool as I walked down the stairs and rode the escalators to the riding platforms. When I got there, I saw several other passengers waiting (I could probably count them on my fingers).
The train for Cubao arrived after a few minutes of waiting, and I was on it. There weren’t enough people to fill all the seats, yet predictably there was still the odd man standing. The train waited for a few more riders to board, and we were off.
The new MRT is at least a third wider and maybe a little longer than the EDSA MRT. It was a cool feeling to see the buildings along Aurora from the new vantage point. I actually stood up just to see the new sights. Nice. From Katipunan, there was only one other stop (Anonas) before reaching Cubao. Luckily, that was my stop since the train apparently only operated up to there as yet.
I really didn’t know how complete the Cubao terminal was, but it was already at least 9/10 finished. There was a length of the side which seemed to be totally open; anyone wanting to jump off from the MRT to the street below need only take a running start; the only thing standing between him and space was a rope cordon. Aside from that, I was almost positive that I saw Gloria (the Prez) herself; well, obviously it was just a lady who had the same hair, facial shape and height due to the lack of any security personnel or commotion

I got down and proceeded to the EDSA MRT, which would take me to Ayala and my workplace. Had a new era begun for me? Probably. Commuting to Cubao, which once was unpredictable, now had a new dimension. I could probably make it in less than thirty minutes once the train was completely running, and that helps a lot to shave off transit time. I hope it all just works out as great as the second MRT. Trains rock.

Sex and Violence and a Senseless Sequel


Lady assassins up the wazoo!

I picked up a Hongkong movie on DVD entitled Naked Weapon. The film stars Maggie Q, Anya and Daniel Wu, and is yet another film in the infamous Naked series (which includes the similar earlier film, Naked Killer), which pretty much popular for it's steamy sex and violence. Not for kiddies, but mature viewers, especially those who love seeing kick-butt model-gorgeous girls go at each other's throats. The story is a doozie; A mysterious woman named Madame M runs a female assassin ring, which specializes in training young girls to become professional killers who use sex as well as martial arts. To this end, she brings together forty young girls and puts them through a six year program to forge them into deadly fighters. Along the way, many are weeded out, and like another popular film of mine, Battle Royale, it soon becomes apparent that Madame M only wants ONE to survive the batch.
Later, full-fledged assassins Charlene (Maggie Q) and Katt (Anya) are experts in the trade. A cop (Daniel Wu) soon gets wise to the murders the girls perpetrate, and soon becomes embroiled in the sordid drama.
Now, Naked Weapon may not be as classy as the recent So Close (Su Qi, Zhao Wei) but you really can't go wrong with sexy girls and martial arts, can you? Heh. Anyway, the fight scenes are cool and pretty wild, and come with some pretty raw CG effects that seem to be all the rage in Hong Kong films. The movie does have some leaps in logic and some credibility problems... I mean, you train forty girls for six years, feeding, housing and giving them all sorts of training... and then just kill them outright? Waste of man- er, girlpower, if you ask me. Kinda reminds me of the SIVA organization from my Angel Ace comic, but it would be such a waste to just kill off well-trained operatives in-house... and violate and mistreat them as well? Sigh.
Anyway, it's not a great film, but it's pretty and entertaining if you're looking for some mindless sex and violence and martial arts with lots of babes. And it's mostly in english, too!

Another DVD I picked up is Atlantis II: Milo's Return. Yes! I wasn't aware of this sequel as well! Apparently, the gang from part one gets together again, including of course leads Milo and Kida. They soon go off on a world-spanning journey to discover the secret of the Atlantean crystals. Anyway, shoddy animation and action highlight this direct-to-video release... plus the normally hot Kida spends most of the time fully clothed... what's up with that? BAH!

Well that's pretty much it. Hopefully I can get stuff done tomorrow since it's a holiday... particularly to enjoy the stuff I've acquired over the weekend.