X-men: The Last Stand


Death, triumph and mutant fighting aplenty.

Last night, the gang got together in a rare outing to watch the third and supposedly final installment of the Marvel Comics' X-men films. Now, whether the Last Stand is truly the last time we'll see the alumni of Xavier's School onscreen depends really on time and box office receipts.
X3 has been beset by a slew of problems in its making- the so-called super-director Bryan Singer bailed out of the series to meg DC's Superman Returns. The script, which was leaked online early on, had fanboys and geeks foaming at the mouth at various character deaths and other nitpicks. Particular rancor seemed to be aimed at director Brett Ratner and producer Avi Arad. I have to admit I saw the script leaks and I got a bit apprehensive, but I resolved to not judge the film until I actually saw it. I saw the trailers, and I was interested. Let's see the movie and get it over with.

So, did I like the movie? Nope.

I loved it.

The movie kicks ass with easily some of the best scenes and moments in the whole trilogy- stuff that will have you clapping of smiling or grinning at the coolness of it all. There are fewer if any 'iffy' moments as in previous films (No 'What happens to a toad when it get hits by lightning' lines, thankfully) and the pace is fast and never boring.
One big thing that I disagree with a lot of negative reviews is the so-called way that several major character deaths are handled without emotion- I have to say with the exception of the first death, which was intentionally hidden, this is not true. The second, monumental demise had the right sense of finality and power (in fact, it was one of the highlights of the film) and was addressed excellently. The third major character demise was the climax of the movie so that is also a major moment that struck the right tone.

What lacked in previous films (too little in the first and none in the second) was the simple fact that the X-men weren't fighting foes that measured up to them. The final fights in the first X-men were kinda lame (save for the Wolverine-Mystique tussle). The second film had zilch. In X3, we see the X-men take on a literal ARMY of mutants, and it really turned out excellently- Ratner knows how to stage great action, which is an improvement over Singer's stunts in X1 and X2. There is speed, brutality, comedy and smarts in the various action setpieces, and it kicks arse.

In terms of characters, this is pretty much Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) and Storm's (Halle Berry) movie... James Marsden's Cyclops is a shadow of his former self and has little screentime (one can't help but think this was caused by the actor's defection to DC with Bryan Singer), while returning Jean Grey (Famke Jansen) gets to go all goth-like and scary as the Phoenix (No, not the Power Cosmic entity, but close enough in this universe). Finally, after spending most of the first two movies comatose or captive, Professor Charles Xavier (Patrick Stewart)gets his chance to get into the frontlines and shine (literally).

Gladly, new faces take up the slack that opens up when old characters vacate. Kelsey Grammer makes for a perfect Beast/Hank McCoy, and in particular, Kitty Pryde (Ellen Page) is note-perfect and shows off the character that made her a favorite in the comics... what can I say, Kitty ROCKS. Which is a big bash against onscreen (but unintentional) rival Rogue (Anna Paquin) who loses out on looks and action (but she still gets the guy, who never really was in conflict anyway).

On my own personal fave, Mystique (Rebecca Romijin) gets lesser screentime here, but easily has her BEST scenes in the whole trilogy in X3, plus she gets a fitting resolution (that nicely leaves her open to a return someday...). As for Magneto, Ian McKellen predictably has some of the most impressive scenes in the film (including a jaw-dropping stunt with a bridge), and he just exudes power and class along with the villainy.
I would have liked to see more Colossus (Daniel Cudmore), but at least he gets to do the 'Fastball Special' twice in the movie. We finally get to see Iceman (Shawn Ashford) and Pyro (Aaron Stanford) get a decisive one-on-one, which is er, cool. Despite lacking the neck-less costume, Juggernaut (Vinnie Jones) was also well done.

Is it perfect? Well, a lot of characters show up, albeit briefly, and so it's inevitable that a lot just get cameos or quick do-aways. I felt brief nicks and pangs a seeing Arclight and Psylocke appear and disappear so fast, but what the heck. Then there's that scene with the never-seen Sentinel, which was kinda a cop-out but still pretty cool.

This stands as a grade-A superhero movie in my book, the best of the X-movie franchise. Thankfully, Brett Ratner kept the look and feel of the movie almost seamless from the previous two films, and at the same time doing away with the previous movies' tendency to keep the X-men inferior to Magneto. In this movie, finally, the X-men give Magneto his come-uppance deserving from X2.

If you're a fan of the characters who DIE, you may get a bit miffed, but in all, the movie is optimistic and forward-looking, with the X-men standing perfect to the way they are in the comics- never giving up and taking up the fight even when the chips are down, no matter how great the odds, as long as they feel they're doing the right thing. They made their stand, and they won.

Highly recommended.

Is it the last X-movie? Hopefully not. The movie DOES open the possibilities up for more chapters in the future, but we'll just have to see. Obviously, the more people who see this one will affect this franchise's future. So, what are you waiting for? GO SEE IT. I want my Mystique movie! Heh.

X-men: The Last Stand is now showing in Metro Manila theaters. Go, go, go! Now!!!

Up and Running

Thanks to my pals Andrew and Pot, my home PC's working again. Apparently all the trouble that's been plaguing it recently was due to the thing being underpowered. Well, after taking a couple of things off the plug and installing new software, the ol' computer's working again, and I can finally work and play with impunity. On the same vein, I was feeling quite under the weather earlier today but I'm feeling a lot better.
Darn, am I and my old PC linked in some way? Woooh.

X-Cited

X3: The Last Stand opens today in Metro Manila theaters. Despite all the negativity people online have been throwing at the sequel, there has been positive word on it from some reliable sources... plus, the trailers so far have been pretty cool. I'm actually looking forward to seeing this final chapter (supposedly) of the franchise. It's kinda foolish to suddenly end the X-movies, IMO, but that's Fox's decision... maybe keeping on the cast after all this time is too expensive. Oh well. Anyway, I hope to catch X3 over the weekend or so. Expect a review shortly after.

Overhyped

Yesterday me and my buddy Pot went off to Greenhills to watch The Da Vinci Code. Well, I went in without reading the book but I pretty much knew what it was all about.... which honestly KILLS a lot of the film's power. I mean, EVERYONE by now knows what the big hullaballoo is about, so when it's finally said in the movie there's no surprise.

The Da Vinci Code is in the same vein as past 'conspiracy' thriller movies like The Pelican Brief or The Firm- featuring a bookish, non-combative hero trying to piece together the truth while being pursued by an assassin or what not. In this case, it's symbolism expert Robert Langdon played by Tom Hanks, running all throughout Europe with French beauty Audrey Tatou, trying to solve the mystery of the death of the Louvre's curator. On the way, they get caught up in the ages old search for the Holy Grail and 'one of the greatest cover-ups in human history'. Paul Bettany plays the baddie- a creepy, self-flagellating monk and assassin, taking orders from a sinister bishop played by Alfred Molina. Stealing the show from the moment you first hear his voice to his last second onscreen is Sir Ian McKellen.

Depending on the viewer things like the Knights Templar, the Grail myths, supposed Vatican conspiracies and the Opus Dei may be of interest. The film doesn't really do action too well, with a horribly-shot 'car chase' scene early on and just a few tussles on the way. All suspense and tension disappears about a half hour before the film ends, which is kinda iffy. If you're not too much into these things, you may get bored... bored enough to sleep, honestly.

I myself watched the film from beginning to end without mishap, and the final revelation was kinda cool but not mind-blowing. I didn't find myself questioning my faith or even hankering to get a copy of the book. For something so talked about and hyped, this just doesn't measure up too much other than being a watchable flick. Oh well. Bring on X-men 3, I guess.

Avatar: The Last Airbender Book One - Water


High-flying Martial Arts Fantasy Epic.

I've been talking about Nickelodeon's Avatar a lot. Well, don't expect it to stop anytime soon. The series is simply one of the best, if not the best, cartoon shows I've ever had the pleasure to watch. From the story to the characters, the designs and the music, to the animation to the awesome martial arts fight scenes to the genuinely funny banter between the characters... this show ROCKS. It's perfect from head to toe. Except maybe for fan service, but this IS a family TV show, so that's excusable. But the lack of bouncy boobs or skimpy outfits aside, this show is IT.


12-year old Aang would rather have fun than fight fierce firebenders. But then, wouldn't anyone?

Avatar is about the adventures of Aang, the latest incarnation of the Avatar, a champion who has the power to master all four elements (fire, earth, air, water) in a world where most people can only master one. When the evil Fire Nation attacks, only the Avatar can keep the peace. Unfortunately, Aang's youth caused him to freak when he was told that he was the Avatar. This resulted in him running away and getting trapped in an iceberg for a hundred years. Finally awakened from his imprisonment, Aang now has to face up to his destiny. But can a child truly handle this immense burden? Well, if the world is to be saved, he has to.


Katara is an anime heroine if I ever saw one. Smart, beautiful and powerful (eventually), Katara supports Aang throughout the quest as his travelling companion, big sister figure, later teacher and perhaps... love interest?

The characters of Avatar are all excellently designed and realized, with wonderful dialogue in both dramatic and humorous moments. You'll surely find a favorite among the cast, whether it's main hero Aang, or companions Katara and Sokka, or even antagonists Prince Zuko and General Iroh. As the show goes on, more cool characters, both good and evil, join the drama and give this great show even more depth and layers.


While he doesn't have any bending talents, Katara's older brother Sokka is a capable warrior with surprising technical ability. He's also got a sarcastic streak that makes him the source for a lot of the show's comedy.

Every episode of Avatar is tightly written and excellently-paced, containing lots of action, humor, drama and plot development that continues the over-reaching saga. The first Season of Avatar, collectively titled Book One: Water, concerns Aang's quest to master the Waterbending arts, and has him being pursued relentlessly by the exiled Fire Nation Prince Zuko. There are GREAT plot twists, character development, riveting drama and surprises aplenty, and the show only gets better and deeper with every new installment.
What's great about Avatar's writing is that it doesn't really hold back anything or talk down. Things like love, death, war, duty and so forth are handled maturely but safely, and there are great positive values espoused in the episodes. Both kids and adults can easily find something to latch onto this show.


While initially a villain, Prince Zuko will easily become a favorite character thanks to his tragic and intriguing back story and a sense of honor. Truly a villain you actually root for even though he's hunting Aang and the gang.

Avatar was created by Bryan Konietzko and Michael DiMartino, whose previous credits include Family Guy, King of the Hill and Invader Zim. They were heavily influenced by anime and Asian culture for Avatar, and went as far as hiring a martial arts expert to keep the show's martial arts and bending arts authentic-looking. Each specific bending art is actually based on a real-world martial arts style: Firebending is based on Northern Shaolin Style, Airbending on Ba Gua, Earthbending on Hung Gar and Waterbending on Tai Chi.


Retired Fire Nation general Iroh is Prince Zuko's uncle and ally. Laidback and wise, Iroh may be on the bad guys' side (initially), but he's definitely a good guy. His genial exterior hides his awesomely powerful Firebending skills.

The Second Season of Avatar, Book Two: Earth, has already begun and is into the 7th episode as of this writing. The second season introduces new characters and continues Aang's quest to master the four elements as time grows shorter to the victory of the evil Fire Nation. So far, the quality of the show has remained flawless. The series will supposedly end with the third Season, the Book of Fire. You can catch episodes of Avatar on Nickelodeon on weekends in the morning and in the afternoon.
On other mediums, there are videogames and a card game based on the series coming later this year. It seems like Avatar is destined to be a classic. Well, for me it already is.
I recommend getting this show anyway you can, whether through online or on VCD or DVD, and watching episodes back to back. It's just that good.

Quirky

Vin tagged me to do this meme about '6 Weird things/habits about Myself', so here's some odd tidbits about the MADman...

I buy clothes about as often as I see my friends Arnold and Cynthia. That means if I buy articles of clothing more than once or twice a year, that's unusual. Clothing would consist of less than 1 percent of my yearly spending.

I have a Salt Tooth. I cannot do without patis or fish sauce at the table when I eat rice. I do so with pretty much any kind of viand.

I apparently snore like a motor running full tilt when I sleep on my back. As a result, if I have any roommates I must make sure I sleep on my side and stay that way (since that posture seems to negate the problem).

I cannot eat any seafood that requires shelling or removal of carapaces. I can only eat shrimp if it's served as tempura. I guess I'm just too lazy.

I have a favorite pillow. I don't consider it a security pillow, since I can sleep without it (I don't pack it in my bag on trips, at least), but I just have a combination of sentimental value and the genuine belief that no other pillow has the right balance of softness and firmness than my old pillow so I keep it even after years and years. How old exactly is my favorite pillow? I've had it since I was in elementary school.

I hate crowds, and this is something I realized only recently. I hate people who walk too slowly or try to overtake me. I hate people who block the way walking side by side or walk erratically like they have a broken gyroscope. In another world, I'd probably go wild with a machine gun in Cubao or Megamall on a random crowd. That's why I take taxis a LOT these days. The cost is worth the peace of mind... and the safety of the populace.

The last part of this meme requires that I tag it to 6 other people. I therefore tag El, Camy, Cams, Jamie, Jeremy and Cynthia. That's that.

Son of a Beach

I'll be heading off with the rest of the Salt Mines crew to enjoy a cloudy day at the beach from tomorrow until Friday. It's a bit of a reward I guess for all the salt production and elbow grease all these months, so that's good. The most worrying thing on my mind is that I tend to overpack for any trip, so I should make it a point not to stuff in four pairs of pants, ten t-shirts and the five pairs of socks into a valice. All I need I guess is a change of clothing from what I'll be wearing going there, underwear for sleeping and swimming gear... then pad it out with one extra article. Then there's the usual toileteries, toothbrush, toothpaste, soap and towel. Just wear sandals coming and going. That should all fit in a small bag.

As for gadgets, I'll be bringing along my mini, of course, so I'll keep in touch and have my media in hand. I'll also be bringing along my new digicam hopefully to snap a lot of pics and hopefully catch a ghost or two (the resort we're going to may have a spirit or two). Anyway, the best thing about the outing is that it ends going into the weekend. Coolness. I need this break. I need it a lot. Here's to a not-so-sunny but very funny (and safe) outing.

Avatar


Toph the Earthbender is just the latest face to join the Avatar cast.

I've probably posted about this animated series on Nickelodeon before, but really, I haven't posted enough. Avatar: The Last Airbender is just an awesome series. Mixing anime with western animation like never before, Avatar is a refreshing quest adventure starring a party of young heroes battling to save their world from evil.
While outwardly looking a bit kiddy and liberally laced with humor, Avatar is actually a series as deep and powerful as a lot of the best anime out there. There are complex characters, plot twists and themes that are more mature than you'd think, and the characters are brilliantly conceived and designed. Best of all, while not as violent as the usual anime tends to be, Avatar boasts of a lot of awesome, super powered action thanks to it's magical, martial arts-based fight scenes.

I'm pretty sure local cable hasn't shown the Second Season episodes yet (thankfully there are other places to get your Avatar fix), but suffice to say that the series gets a LOT better into the second season, if only by expanding the number of characters to follow even more than your simple good guys-bad guy mechanic. The series gets a kick-ass trio of female villains while Aang's party gets a butt-kicking and cute new member in the form of Toph, a spunky and powerful earthbender girl. Awesome stuff!

With one season down and the second season only about a third of the way through, there's a lot more Avatar to enjoy. I wholeheartedly say that this show is one of my favorite anime right now. Simply awesome!

EDIT: Had me an Avatar marathon last night, and it just made me appreciate this wonderful series even more. The action, humor, story and characters are simply sublime. A perfect series? Well, as perfect as a kid-friendly fantasy action title can be (fan service would have made this an instant anime classic), I guess. Avatar ROCKS. Can't wait to get the new episodes as they appear. WOOHOO!

Codebreaking

The Da Vinci Code movie is showing in a week or so, and I have to say that I am interested. I haven't read the actual book but I've seen so many specials on all the Knowledge Channels that all that's missing from my actual experience are the action scenes that will inevitably be part of a movie about bookish heroes dodging ordained assassins trying to uncover a scandalous 'secret' about the Christian faith. I'm not sure that I'll be moved to read the book after watching the film- that usually happens for me with the Harry Potter films (I'll probably read Order of the Phoenix right before the actual movie), but who knows. How can several million pageturners be wrong? We'll see soon enough.

Figurativity


Justice Alex Ross Series 3 Figures.

Yesterday, while getting my comics for the week, I noticed that also in this week were the newest action figures in the Alex Ross Justice line. I've been eyeing this particular wave for some time thanks to the really nice female figures of Poison Ivy (at her most...um... non-veggy) and Wonder Woman, but unfortunately they weren't selling Ivy as a single. So I eventually ended up getting the whole kit and caboodle. So now I've got Green Lantern, Plastic Man and The Joker as well as the two DC babes. Well, I'm happy since Alex Ross' Nicholson-esque Joker is just awesome, and the GL and PM figs aren't bad either. The detail on these toys is pretty awesome. I can't wait to get them out of their boxes and up on top of my display space in The Sanctum. Lovely, lovely.

The Future of Gaming


Thanks to the Power of the PS3, Raiden finally becomes cool.

I've been on the PC like crazy at home, revelling in the speed of DSL (finally it seems to have settled well) and downloading gobs of stuff as if there was no tomorrow. I've discovered the magic of Bittorrent downloading, and it's incredible... it's like going on a treasure hunt. Of course, this pretty much means I haven't turned off my PC in, like, two days, but it looks to be worth it.

Anyway, I've also gotten into the nitty-gritty of this year's E3 Entertainment Expo 2006, the yearly event in the US where the gaming giants show off their best and latest. Sony of course showed off their upcoming Playstation 3 and finally gave concrete details. The console will make its worldwide debut this November. Like the Xbox360 before it, the PS3 will come with a Hard Drive and will retail at about $499 for the regular set, while a more deluxe version will be priced at $599. WHOA. I bet the damn thing will be grossly overpriced when it finally appears here- the Xbox360 went as high as 100k here (a ridiculous price from some shipper). But something like the PS3 will eventually be mainstream and commonplace, as was it's earlier version the PS2.

This early, the reasons to get a PS3 are flying fast and furious. There's of course the next generation of Final Fantasy games, headlined by Final Fantasy XIII, which seems to feature a kick-ass female protagonist (think Yuna in FFX2 but more bad-ass and armed with a short sword and pistol combo). Another title is Final Fantasy VS XIII which I believe may be a fighting game or action-oriented title. The graphics shown are pretty slick and there seem to be even realtime gameplay elements shown.

Then there are the fighting games: Virtua Fighter 5, which is still slated to come out soon in arcades, will be a PS3 Exclusive. So far, the graphics of the PS3 port seem at par with the arcade counterpart. The game of course will feature all the combatants from the arcade, including two newcomers (Eileen the cute monkey-style fighter and Rey Mysterio-lookalike El Blaze). The game will feature extensive customization features and items to trick out your fighter.

Tekken 6 debuted as well with a VERY short teaser clip showing Jin Kazama fighting it out with Lili, the blonde-haired heiress who first appeared in Tekken 5: Dark Resurrection. The graphics were very detailed but not up to par with the ultra-realistic look first teased at months ago... looks like Namco has scaled down their target somewhat. Anyhoo, the clip ends right before Jin lays the smackdown on Lili when TKD thug Hwoarang suddenly bursts onto the scene on his motorcycle. Looks slick, and I can't wait to see next-gen versions of Nina Williams and Asuka Kazama- here's hoping Character Creation or at least deeper customization features makes their way into the game.

And of course, the BIG gun of the PS3 is none other than Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots. The latest game from Hideo Kojima features a now-aged and rapidly weakening Solid Snake, now known apparenlty as Old Snake. Details of the story are still kinda sketchy, but basically involves Snake's last mission before he croaks (from old age?). While Snake looks like an oldie, the same cannot be said for the rest of the cast- most of whom are returning faces from previous MGS games. It seems that Snake's condition may be an effect of the FOXDIE virus from the first game, or a result of his being a clone of Big Boss.
Returning characters include Roy Campbell, or 'The Colonel', who seems to be the one convincing Snake to go on one more mission. There's a haggard Naomi Hunter, a more formidable-looking Meryl Silverburgh (who is apparently part of a 'new' FOXHOUND unit) and a 70's style Liquid Ocelot (who seems to be old Revolver Ocelot now taken over by Liquid Snake's grafted arm). Oh, and there's pretty boy Raiden who's now decked out in the cyborg ninja outfit complete with slice-and-dice sword. Can you say... awesome?

The new E3 trailer is pretty dramatic, and has comments about how war becomes routine and antiseptic when every aspect of it- every element of a soldier's capabilities and factors throughout the battlefield- becomes controlled. Snake, an old soldier of countless wars, laments this development, and ends the feature video saying that he has 'one more punishment to endure'. At which point he loads a single bullet into his pistol and aims in into his own mouth.

WHOA.

The trailer as a whole has a sad, melancholy feel- kinda like the autumn flavor of Godfather III... will this truly be the end of Snake? We're gonna have to just dig into our foxholes... it's gonna be a while.

It's gonna be a loooooooooooooooong wait till November. Darn.

Gotta start saving those quarters, people.

Sigh. So many games, so little space in my little Sanctum. Oh well. I could always get rid of the bed. Heh.

A Date with the DOA Girls


Ryu Hayabusa (Kane Kosugi) grips his ball while a bikini-clad Kasumi (Devon Aoki) looks on. Mm.

Ever since word of the Dead or Alive movie was sent out, reactions to the upcoming fighting game translation tot he big screen has been less than enthusiastic. Over at pretty much every DOA forum or message board, the feeling is almost universal that the movie will suck. I beg to differ. First of all, the DOA storyline really isn't a big deal... it's about ninja and various martial artists fighting for a big prize at the end of a tournament being held by the less-than-benign DOATEC Corporation... nothing really groundbreaking since this is pretty much the storyline for every fighting game from the dawn of man.


DOA is actually two game-to-movie translations in one, thanks to the DOAX vollyeball segment.

Not surprising given the fact that DOA's popularity rests almost solely on the assets of it's female characters, the movie as well will apparently be all about the ladies. Early word is that the story centers on the character of Christie (Australian actress Holly Valance), a sexy blonde bounty hunter who's after the head of the Tournament managing committee and probably the movie's main baddie, Donovan, played by Eric Roberts. This is a bit of a surprise for gamers since in the game, Christie was an assassin working for Donovan, and she was a pretty nasty piece of work.


Looking good.

Thankfully, the game will also focus on other DOA heroines- notably Kasumi(played by Sin City's Miho, Devon Aoki), the renegade ninja girl who has been the main DOA character for most of the games. Gunning for Kasumi as she does in the games is her purple-haired half-sister Ayane, played by the lovely Natassia Malthe, last seen locking lips with Jennifer Garner in the tragic Elektra movie. Then there's Tina Armstrong, a pro-wrestler with dreams of stardom played by sultry Jaime Pressley (I wonder if director Corey Yuen was staking out the Sin City set to cast his film) and finally Helena, an opera singer and martial artist played by Sarah Carter.


Kasumi shows off some of her ninja techniques.


Of course, there's the obligatory 'girl gets attacked while coming out of the bath' scene.

Fans of the game can look forward to seeing other DOA fighters like Ninja Gaiden's Ryu Hayabusa (Kane Kosugi), Hayate, Gen Fu, Bass and others in supporting roles. Noticeably missing so far are fan favorite Chinese femme fatale Leifang and karate kid Hitomi.

Outwardly, the film looks to be a cross between the past Charlie's Angels movies, Bruce Lee's Enter the Dragon and Game of Death, with bits of Kill Bill and American Ninja thrown in. Conceivably, it could actually be pretty cool.


Zack (Brian J. White) and Tina (Jaime Pressley) continue their non-existent relationship.

Anyway, the girls are gorgeous. The fighting looks decent, and there looks to be a lot of it. All I want is to see the lovely cast kick butt (or get their butts kicked) spectacularly, and for the movie to have a sense of humor but still remain reasonably faithful to the material. So far, the film looks fun. I'll be giving it the benefit of the doubt and declare that I am excited to see this flick. But hey, I was excited about the Street Fighter movie too years ago. Sigh.

Dead or Alive the Movie is set for an August 25 release.

Cruising for Bruising



Last night, I got to watch Mission Impossible III on the way home after a hard week of work. What I got was a pleasantly entertaining, action-packed and romance-laden romp care of Tom "Ethan Hunt" Cruise and director J.J. "Alias" Abrams.
It's been several years after the end of the last MI film, and maverick IMF agent Ethan Hunt has largely retired from active duty, working now mostly behind a desk to train the next crop of spies. Moreover, he's gotten a winsome fiancee named Julia (Michelle Monaghan) who's madly in love with him. Unfortunately, Ethan's plans for martial bliss and a happy home life are disturbed when a colleague (Billy Crudup) comes to him with alarming news; one of their agents, played by Keri Russell, has been captured while investigating the activities of an infamous black market dealer, Owen Davian (Oscar winner Philip Seymour Hoffman). Since Ethan trained the missing agent himself, he can't help but go active once more to get her out. What happens next is a series of snowballing events as Ethan's hidden life soon begins to endanger his future and, in particular, the woman he wishes to share it with.

I've read in an article that MI3 is, in many ways, a remake of True Lies (that classic spy action comedy with Ah-nuld and Jamie Lee Curtis). And it's true- MI3 has the super spy, the ignorant love interest and a vile villain ready to spoil everything. However, MI3 seems more focused on the people, rather than the crisis, which makes it probably the most personal battle Ethan Hunt has faced. Like in most of JJ Abram's spy flicks (including his Alias series), the thing in the case, the McGuffin being chased after, really isn't the point. It's about the spies and what they go through to get it. That said, MI3 is still full to the brim with gunfights, car stunts, chases, suspenseful heists and high-level intrigue which viewers have come to expect from the series.

Tom Cruise is once again in top form as Ethan Hunt- he's a bit older and domesticated now, instead of the invincible super agent with the mad motorcycling skillz and the taste for suicidal mountaineering he had in part two. Still, he's got that hero thing down pat and that makes for great, enjoyable action. Back as well is the only other MI fixture, Ving Rhames as Hunt's right hand Luther Stickel. Stickel isn't as talkative or as comedic as Tom Arnold was in True Lies, but he provides the laughs just the same.
Debuting as new IMF agents in MI3 are dynamite-looking Hong Kong superstar Maggie Q and Jonathan Rhys Meyers as a femme fatale and a man of a dozen faces, respectively. They don't get that much screen time, but you like them instantly so that's great. Also new to MI3 is the Man, Morpheus himself, Laurence Fishburne as IMF Commander Brassel, and Shaun of the Dead's Simon Pegg as Benji, IMF's answer to Q.

As for MI3's trailer-boy Owen Davian, yeah, he's a despicable villain, and having Philip Seymour Hoffman's genial, soft looks (I really see him like an older, more respectable Jack Black) works. Unfortunately, his best scene really IS that exact scene where he gives the threat about hurting Hunt's wife or girlfriend... and we've all seen it already. There sadly isn't enough of him as there was of baddies in previous MI films. Oh well, he's good while he's there.

On the whole, MI3 is a thrill ride- from the intriguing and unusual opening to the tons of action-packed sequences that pepper the film throughout, this is a great popcorn movie if I ever saw one... certainly the best in the trilogy, in my opinion. Great action and drama, humor and Tom Cruise doing his thing. Worst part of it? That I saw a big plot twist a MILE away. Oh well. At least, there are no overdramatic uses of doves. Heh.

Mission IMpossible III is now showing in Manila theaters. Watch it!

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PLDT Sucks: The Finale

Okay, the DSL guys FINALLY arrived and installed the stuff.

I tried it, and darn, it's fast... a lot faster than dial-up.

I have DSL!!! FINALLY!!!

But... as of right now, I'm typing this with a dial-up connection.

That's cause... the PLDT server seems to have gone down...

Oh well.

At least I have DSL... just not right now...

Sigh.

Crisis ends, War begins

This week in comics, DC's Infinite Crisis finally came to an end, while on the other side of the gutter, Marvel kicked off it's own universe-shaking event, Civil War.
I thoroughly enjoyed DC's renovation, though I have to admit that I wasn't as attached or emotionally into the characters as much as I was in the original Crisis on Infinite Earths. IC was a pretty awesome ride, but I did feel that the ending was a bit rushed; certainly while they did hype up Alex Luthor and Superboy Prime as huge villains, my opinion is that the original universe-killing baddie The Anti-Monitor still rules as the despicable villain to end all villains. Still, great stuff, and it's gotten me curious about 52.

As for Civil War, I'm intrigued at the story and the art is simply incredible. My only gripe is that they had to sacrifice the New Warriors to kick off the event, which sucks. The Warriors were hardly new anymore, and after 60+ issues of their own series back in the nineties, this shouldn NOT have happened to them. Darn it. I'm gonna miss Namorita... it always saddens me when super-powered bikini babes get killed off. But then again this is Marvel. No one really stays dead...

Super

On the other hand, I really enjoyed the new Superman Returns trailer. I have to admit I'm not the biggest fan of the Man of Steel. I liked him years ago, but really lost touch of him during the whole 'Death of Superman' thing. I doubly don't like him recently due to all the stuff that's been happening to him- getting controlled by Max Lord, becoming a government go-fer, etcetera, etcetera. I especially didn't like the squeaky clean caped boy scout from the movies.
However, the new movie, thanks to the trailer, has gotten me excited. The film looks cool, and it looks like a lot of real actiont his time, as opposed to the boring disaster movie the first one was, the ultimately corny but still the best of the lot 2nd movie, and the horrible sequels later.

I'm certainly intrigued at Kevin Spacey's performance as Lex Luthor; hopefully it will be unique from Gene Hackman's wheeler-dealer in the old movies. He seems to be a mix of genius, megalomaniac and psycho, which is cool... hey, who better to play Luthor than Keyser Soze? WOOHOO!!!

Superman Returns flies in this Summer. Keep your eyes on the sky till then.

Oh-oh Seven

Just saw the teaser trailer for Casino Royale, the latest James Bond flick with the latest Bond, Daniel Craig.

The action looks good. The Bond girl looks hot.

But darn. I have to say that Craig just doesn't look like James Bond. I've been quite vocal about giving the guy a chance, and I will indeed watch the film once it comes out... but darn... he just looks more like a villain than a Bond. Or he looks kinda old to be playing a younger Bond.

What the heck. He's there already. Let's hope it works. Or we could have another George Lazenby on our hands. Oh well.

Tekken 6

... is gonna debut at this year's May E3 Expo for the PS3. The first trace of the next chapter in the Iron Fist Tournament was first revealed months ago, via a short (make that very short) video of a super-detailed and hyper-realistic Jin Kazama getting ready for combat. Now, that could have been just CG, so just how the actual game will look like and what new stuff will be in store aside from nosehair-detailed character models should be revealed very soon.
With Tekken 6 confirmed to be a PS3 game and the lovely Virtua Fighter 5 also rumoured to be on Sony's uber-system, it seems pretty destined that I'll be getting one... the console arrives hopefully this November. Gotta start saving then.

New Toy



Okay, it’s not really a toy, but that didn’t make me feel any less like a kid when I got my new digital camera yesterday. I finally decided on the Canon Digital Ixus 60 (which coincidentally is being reviewed in the latest T3 magazine). The Ixus 60’s a 6 megapixel mighty mite with a ton of features that can make photography as simple or as complex as you want. It’s also smaller than most cellphones, which makes it pretty easy to bring around anywhere. I’ve already started snapping away pics and it’s quite an amazing gadget. Well, amazing to someone who’s been used to low quality photos from cellphone cameras all this time.

In any case, I’m thoroughly enjoying my new device… and I should since it cost me quite a bit (gonna have to eat crackers and luke water for a while… heheh). At the very least, from now on, you can all expect sharper, nicer pics on the blog and the phlog from now on. WOOHOO!

Fabulous Buffy Boys

I love spooky stuff, so it was natural for me to be excited about the new series Supernatural on AXN. It’s a creepy adventure series which pits two brothers against the world of sinister urban legends and occult monsters. I’m so interested in it, I actually couldn’t wait for the series to premiere on cable- I’ve already gotten myself dvds of the first season. Anyway, the pilot episode was pretty cool, and has succeeded in getting me stoked for the rest of the series.
It’s a little bit of Buffy the Vampire Slayer (the guys actually make it their point to fight the creatures they come across) minus an over-reliance on martial arts and magic, a whole lot of X-Files, a little bit Kolchak the Nightstalker and dashes of road movie/family drama. And since the series is directed by McG, the man behind the Charlie’s Angels movies, there’s quite a bit of the director’s trademark zippy camera trickery which actually suit the look and feel of the series quite well. The show has a great sense of spookery which I find quite good.

Supernatural’s overall plot aside from the Monster/Myth-of-the-week is the brothers’ search for their missing father, and perhaps closure and revenge on the so far unknown force that caused a tragedy in the family many years ago.

Supernatural stars Jared Padalecki and Jensen Ackles. The series is set to debut this week on Thursdays at 10pm on AXN. Watch it with the lights off for the most fun. Heh.

The Sentinel

No, this isn't a review of the Michael Douglas action-thriller that's showing right now in theaters. I'm talking a different kind of sentinel. You know... the kind comic fans know. Big, purple, mutant-hunting robots. Remember how we all wished there were sentinels in the past X-men movies? Well, there weren't before but that has apparently changed. Apparently, there will be big robot enemies in the upcoming X3: The Last Stand.

Yeah, this is probably a bit of a spoiler thing, but hey- teaser footage has appeared in earlier trailers for the movie (where did you think those lazer bolts were coming from?), and it just seems to be natural that the government would turn to the Sentinels to strike at Magneto's new Brotherhood Army. And heck- Hugh Jackman already spilled the beans on a recent episode of the Tonight Show with Jay Leno, so what the heck. They showed a clip with Wolvering (Jackman) doing the famous "Fastball Special" with Colossus to attack an oncoming, gigantic attacker. No, we don't actually see much of the Sentinel- just a silhouette of a giant figure with headlights for eyes. Wolvering flies up, and something- a severed giant robot head- comes crashing down.
Yeah, the scene is cool in a way, but also seems a bit of a cop-out that screams LOW BUDGET! On the other hand, it's probably just a teaser for real scenes showing off the big mechanical mutant hunters which seem to be part of the third X-men film's climactic final battle.

Well, anyway, it just gets me a little bit more excited for this already controversial film- controversial in that it has many fans of the comics and previous films already condemning it long before opening day. Well, I'm willing to give it a good ol' college try. Who knows, it might actually be the best one.

X3 is set to make it's last stand this May.

Click-Itch

Lately I've been hankering to get another gadget. No, it's not another gaming console... the PS3's not due out until the end of the year, and I'm still not totally sold on the PSP. I'm not thinking about getting a new mobile phone, either... while I do love the designs of the lastest Sony Ericsson mobiles and stuff from Nokia, they still can't tear me away from the multi-faceted loveliness of my O2 Mini. However, the new multi-megapixel phones have gotten me interested in a camera.
Yeah, the latest mobile phones are sporting 2 megapixel snappers up... there are even new cellphones with 3 or more megapixels coming very soon. It has just gotten me totally conscious of the fact that my Mini's own 1.3 Megapixel cam is woefully bad. Yeah, it's adequate for the occasional video or snap- but in low light, it's pretty useless, and the pics just aren't as sharp or detailed as I would like. Great for blogging and stuff, but if you need the pictures to be worth anything more, the cam just won't cut it.
To be honest, my brother did leave me with a nice digital camera- it's a 2-megapixel snapper which unfortunately is slightly damaged so fixing up the settings is a bit iffy... and it's a bit bulky, so it's not something I can carry around without a bag.

And so, I am thinking of getting a proper, pocketable digicam. Something small and compact but packing the power to make hi-res pics. I've already more or less gotten an idea of what I may be getting- something from Canon, perhaps the Digital Ixus series- and I'll probably be going off to look at my options tomorrow or so.

Which is good since there may be an occasion or two where a nice camera may be of great use, very soon. We'll see. My hands are itching already.

Tidings of War

It's begun. The countdown to Marvel's Civil War comic. Probably gonna get this. Yeah, they probably kill of the New Warriors which sucks, but what can you do? Anyway, the art looks good and the storyline intriguing. Will it be as big as DC's Infinite Crisis? Probably. Maybe. We'll see.

Silent Thrill



I finally got to watch the Silent Hill movie. Based on the hit survival-horror videogames by Konami, this is all about the story of a mother's search for her daughter as they both get trapped in the mysterious, haunted town of Silent Hill. Far more visceral and twisted than the more conventional monster and mutant-infested Resident Evil series, Silent Hill is all about curses, demonic dimensions and nightmares made real, and spirits that are anything but silent.

On the good points, the movie at least gets the look and feel of the games right. The titular town... a bleak, ruined, ash-covered and seemingly deserted (at first) array of endless shops and facades, is a character in itself. The various creatures- some CG, some not- are pretty impressive, twisted depravities that seem ripped from the actual game... or from someone's hideous nightmare. There are a lot of homages to the games which fans will surely recognize and appreciate, though the script takes a lot of liberties with the movie version. As for the music, a lot seems straight from the game, and the sounds... darn, you'll learn to dread the sound of sirens after you watch this movie. Creepy.

As for characters, I'm glad they put in the character of lady cop Cybil Bennett (Laurie Holden) into the story, although I'm not at all happy with how she ends up. Not totally sold on the replacement of original SH main character Harry Mason with a new female hero, young mother Rose Da Silva (Radha Mitchell). Sean Bean plays Rose's husband, Chris, who had the better sense to check the websites before foolishly driving off to find some mysterious town to cure their adopted daughter's sleepwalking malady.

Some bad points too... the character of Rose is a bit irritating; yeah, she's a mom and we're supposed to care for her as she goes on her search... but she's darn difficult. Sometimes you can't help but feel "YOU IDIOT!!!! YOU BROUGHT THAT ON YOURSELF!!!" Heheh. There are also some weird dialogue choices or sudden changes in character that seem... off. Like, right after a particularly fierce monster attack on the two lead heroines, Rose (who was screaming her head off the whole time) then turns to a creeped-out Cybil and calmly says "We're going to be okay." Really? On the whole, the script could have been better written and the performances less chilling. But what the hey. We're expecting scares, not Oscar performances here.

The movie is also a bit on the long side- not terribly dragging but you do feel the length... which you'd probably expect from director Christophe Gans, who also megged Brotherhood of the Wolf, which also could have done with about a half hour chopped off. And while for the sake of clarity, a lot of things are explained ala exposition in the movie, perhaps some things shouldn't have been said, just implied. It kinda takes away the mystique and the secrecy of what's really going on in the story... something that the games themselves always maintained.

I have to say that on the whole I appreciated the movie for what it was at best- a very close translation of the game's mood, imagery and storyline into a motion picture. But while I appreciated it, I can't say I really enjoyed this that much. Perhaps because maybe going into it I kinda expected more of a scary adventure film... what Silent Hill turns out to be is more of a straight horror movie, and I'm not really a horror buff. Not the sort of thing I'd watch again and again, but I'm glad, as a fan of the games, to have seen it.

Silent Hill is now showing at cinemas all around the Metro. Get caught up in it, if you dare.

PLDT Sucks, Part Tres

It's been almost two months and STILL no DSL. No word from PLDT.

I've given up calling them up. I've decided to try out Sky Cable DSL. Trouble is, they'll have to see first if it's available in my parts, which I can probably find out in, oh, a couple of weeks. Gah. On the upside, their service seems worlds better than the fucking PLDT, which leads you like a mouse through a maze just to get to a damn operator. I hope I get Sky DSL. Damn PLDT DSL to Hell. FEH...

Getting Drawn into the Web

There have been some developments in the local comic scene lately (as from my previous post) that I guess made a bit of a hullaballoo here, and people have been nicely chiming in some solutions. One of the more popular ideas is going the way of the web through Internet-based webcomics or downloadable pages.
Certainly this isn't the first time that I have been in a situation where going webcomic is a possibility. Prior to doing Angel Ace Next, I certainly did think of just continuing the Angel Ace series online. Eventually though, the lack of a webmaster/website designer made me just do what I knew (more or less) to do- just do it in print. Yeah, if I knew then what I knew now about how Angel Next would pan out (sales of Next were the worst), I'd have just gone web straight from there.

Anyway, that was then and this is now. If it's just about doing comics and getting stories out, I can either find a webmaster who can make me a site where I can feature ongoing titles- perhaps in the vein of Homanga which is certainly a smashing site for comics. Failing in that, I can just do a blog-type of format and update as I go... that's at least something I can do on my own I guess.
If I do something like this, I'd probably feature several titles- not just stuff that's already been seen like Kunoichi Boy and K.I.A. (though certainly these two titles would be there at the very least). I would also probably try out some new ideas I've been mulling over... It sounds like fun. We'll see, I guess.

That all said, I am still pushing for a published Last Angel book, and more K.I.A. releases. Thankfully, both books may have a built-in solution for getting out there on shelves, including space in Comic Quest. And so the good fight continues.

More on this as it happens. Thanks for all your inputs, people!

Indie Ka na Pwede (Translation, "Indies no longer allowed")

I just found out yesterday via El's blog that Comic Quest is no longer accepting consignments from local publishers unless they can furnish official receipts. This seems to be a heavy blow especially to the makers of xerox-copy or 'indie' comics, which probably don't have ORs. Apparently this was all caused by the BIR's recent crackdown (which got Comic Quest involved) on shops and retailers. One more reason to hate the fricking government, people. One of BILLIONS.

How does this affect me? I don't yet know for sure. Surely, Comic Quest is a major outlet for getting to comic lovers, and it simply will not do to just abandon it. The only way is to have an Official Receipt, or to be distributed by a recognized publisher/distributer with ORs. This may already be in place for at least K.I.A. and the upcoming Last Angel story, though I still have to get confirmations.

This pretty much kills Kunoichi Boy AGAIN. Back into hiding, Jin. Oh well.

Whatever. Adversity is the local independent comic creator's bread and butter. We'll survive. Stories always find a way to break out, somehow. FEH.

End of the Road

I finally finished Suikoden V the first time yesterday. I got the 'True Ending', which means I was able to gather all 108 Stars of Destiny and choose a particular option. The ending was suitably satisfying and leaves a nice, warm feeling in the tummy. Easily the best ending of the Suikoden series (If Suikoden II had more animation or stuff shown, that would tie with this) yet.

BUT that doesn't end my time with the game. I'll be playing to watch the other 'Good' Ending, and I'll also probably try to see the Not-so-Good Endings as well. It's this kind of replayability that makes these games so great.

After that, who knows... maybe I'll try to play Suikoden III again...

Delay

As a note to my previous post about Silent Hill the movie, apparently the opening was pushed back from last week to this week. I'll try to catch my ticket for the town of Silent Hill within the week, or over the weekend. Reviews are trickling in at Ain't It Cool News. Mixed stuff, but the general sentiment is that it kicks the crap out of previous videogame-to-movie translations. Well, I do consider myself a Silent Hill fan so I'll be seeing it when I'm able.

Silent Hill

Silent Hill the movie is NOW SHOWING locally! Incredibly enough, this creepy gem snuck into local theaters without my knowing it. I guess there really isn't too much hype about it, but I'm pretty sure Playstation gamers will be lining up to see this.

I've been excited about the Silent Hill movie adaptation ever since I first heard that this classic survival horror game was getting the movie treatment. Seeing the awesome trailer has just fueled the flame of my enthusiasm. If it IS showing, I'm making it a point to get caught up in the haunted small town over the weekend. Review to follow, of course.

Directed by Christophe Gans (Brotherhood of the Wolf) and starring Radha Mitchell, Laurie Holden and Sean Bean, the Silent Hill movie is all about a mother's search for her missing child after they are both sucked into the town of Silent Hill, a place which seems to exist in another, parallel, demonic dimension. The movie is based on a best-selling series of videogames by Konami of Japan.

Return to Grand Adventure


The Prince: Silent but deadly with the ladies.

It's been awhile since I've played a good, long, old-school RPG. Not only because I've been pretty busy at The Salt Mines in recent months... there just haven't been any games worth spending too much time on recently. Take the Suikoden series from Konami. I LOVE the series, to be sure. I really liked the first game and totally ADORED the second (which is still for me the all-time best of the series). The third game was the last chapter that I liked, though honestly I wasn't able to finish it (I want to, someday). The last two instalments in the Suikoden franchise, Suikoden Tactics and Suikoden IV just didn't call out to me. Tactics wasn't an RPG, while IV was... just didn't feel like a Suikoden. Set in the high seas with little character to the look and feel of the game (even the opening cinema was more 'Under the Sea' than Suikoden), I just let it slip like a... well, like a ship in the night.
But for some reason, Suikoden V called out to me. I read several reviews, noting the general consensus that indeed, Suikoden V was a return to form for the series. And so, I got a copy (actually several copies... so many were buggy) and resolved to see for myself if all the rumors were true.

Damn right they're true. I've been playing this game since the middle of the Holy Week, and it's still got it's claws into me. Darn, it's amazing.

Suikoden V puts you in the shoes of The Prince of Falena, the handsome and kind eldest son of the reigning Queen. Since Falena is a Queendom, male sons of the Queen don't have much political clout. In fact, the next in line for the throne is your younger sister. But just the same, when the machinations and ambitions of two powerful noble houses threaten the peace and freedom of the land, the duty of bringing together and leading the forces of good and truth falls on your narrow shoulders. So now, The Prince has to range the land, fighting battles and righting wrongs as he tries to unite the 108 Stars of Destiny to once again bring peace to the Queendom.


It takes a while to start up, but Suikoden V's long and detailed narrative does wonders in making you genuinely care for the fates of the many videogame characters you meet.

What makes Suikoden V so great are two things- Story and Characters. Suikoden V's narrative starts out pretty leisurely (some would even say 'slow') in the first several hours, but once the pace quickens it hardly quits and sustains the gripping quest to the end. All the groundwork and introductions at the start pay off with you having more of an emotional tie with the varying cast of warriors, knights, peasants, mercenaries, lords, wizards and scoundrels you meet in the course of the game. And what a cast it is- Konami worked hard to give many of the characters a great deal more personality and depth compared to before, and it pays off in spades. There's also lots of attempts to turn usual cliches on their heads, which make for more interesting sidestories and plots for you to chew on.


The lovely Lyon: A loyal bodyguard with a dark past.

Complementing the story as well is the excellent presentation. While most of the story is presented through dialogue in text boxes, at crucial points, the story is shown in fully-animated and seamless cut scenes that feature exceptionally good voice acting. These frequent cinematics give the extra flash and drive home the right emotion when the story demands for it, and I have to admit I found myself gasping at the revelations of more than one scene. It's really well done and adds greatly to the enjoyment of the game and highly dramatic story.
A special mention as well has to be given to how The Hero is presented as well in Suikoden V. Once again a voiceless, silent hero, you choose literally dozens of dialogue choices through the game which may affect the course of the story. As the Prince reacts to the events around him, you can easily see the emotion he feels in his facial expressions and body language, whether smiling to comfort an ally or openly embracing a defeated friend-turned-foe, the Prince has all the right moves and it's great to have such a cool avatar to represent you in the game. If only he didn't look or dress like he just jumped out of the pages of a Yaoi manga...

For the rest of the game, Suikoden V is generally fast and easy to play; there is tons of combat (as always) as well as lots of customization options from assigning battle skills to the formations your party takes during battles. The one-on-one duels and occasional large scale army combat battles give variety to gameplay and adds to the game's overall epic feel. In general, gamplay is close to Suikoden II and III, so the game really plays easily enough. And yes, collecting the many Stars for your party (crucial to getting the best of the game's many endings) is as addictive as ever.


Different formations add strategy to party battles. 'True Men' here lets everyone get in on the action in the frontlines.

Are there any flaws? Well, Suikoden V has lots of loading. TONS of it, in fact. There are loading screens every time you enter a new area, after every random encounter or before cinemas. They're very frequent but at least brief (2-5 seconds). Not enough to really make you tear your hair out, but it will get you impatient as you're waiting for the next jaw-dropping reveal or dramatic moment.

Suikoden V is a MUST for fans of the franchise and old school RPGs. The story and characters alone are worth the price of admission, as well as the little homages and attention to detail throughout the game. ,The lovely 3-D graphics and smooth gameplay should make for a good, long and satisfying old-school RPG exprience... perhaps the last great RPG for the PS2. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

Don't wait to meet a ditzy teleport mage before heading off to the gamestores for this gem of an RPG. Get it. NOW.

By the By, for Suikofans out there... so what do I think is better, Suikoden II or Suikoden V? Suikoden II still rules as the best in terms of overall gameplay, story and characters and music. if Suikoden II had the anime cinematics (shown in the later Suikodgaiden games) attached to it and showing dramatic moments in the story, it would be just as immersive and involving as Suikoden V's presentation was. In any case, Suikoden V is a close second to II, which is no mean feat. I would be just as happy with a PS2 3-D remake of Suikoden II in any case... please Konami!!! Hehe.

Post Holiday Funk

Break's over and it's back to work. Well, kinda. The crew at The Salt Mines are having an out-of-office brainstorming, so it's kinda-sorta work but not too constrained to the usual setting, which I guess is a great way to ease into the daily grind. I'm still a bit woozy from my daily Suikoden V marathons (review to follow) and being virtually having Pepsi Max fed to me intravenously.
Funny enough, I managed to write not one but THREE versions of the Last Angel script/storyline, of which one I'm kinda-sorta-pretty much going for, but not 100 percent into. We'll see when I finally get down to drawing the actual pages, hopefully within the week or so.

Yesterday, I went with Cams and the old Quest Gang to attend Vin and Andrew's housewarming over in Ortigas. It was literally a housewarming since all of us were sweating like actors in the movie A Time To Kill. Definitely an air conditioner would be a welcome addition to their nest. Anyway, we had delicious pancit malabon and the usual KFC to sate our hunger along with the night's conversations and intriguing Q&A's. Cool stuff.

Sigh. I need a vacation again. Oh well.

Break

It's the last day of work for me- tomorrow, it's all about kicking back in The Sanctum and having some RnR. That consists mainly of playing Suikoden V, some rounds of Rumble Roses XX and getting to know Lara Croft all over again in Tomb Raider Legend for the PS2. It won't be all games- I plan to fine-tune the story of The Last Angel and start drawing up the pages already. Also gonna be catching up on the Zz's, staying up late into the wee hours of the morning, watching cable TV and the odd DVD, and just having fun.

Darn, I needed this. I've been needing this for a while. Enjoy the Holiday, everyone!

V for Victory


A nameless hero searches for his destiny in Suikoden V.

Of all the RPGs I've played, there's one series that just makes my ears perk up when I hear it. No, not Final Fantasy. It's Suikoden. I just love this series like no other. To be truthful though, my favorite will always be Suikoden II, which ranks as one of my favorite RPGs of all time. I regretfully wasn't able to finish Suikoden III, which is a big injustice... but I am collecting the manga version and so will finish it by reading that. As for the fourth game, which many refer to as 'Suck-koden' since it really was the low point in the series, I just passed it by like a ship in the night.

But now, Suikoden V is here, and it looks pretty good. In fact, reviews of the game have been remarking that the fifth installment of this fan favorite franchise is a return to form for the title. That means a long, involving story, tons of likeable and enthralling characters, big battles and personal duels, mystic runes of power and... funny minigames.

Suikoden V puts you in the sandals of a young prince of a powerful matriarchal empire. I don't have many details of the story but it seems you eventually have to lead some sort of rebellion against the ruling regime if past games are to be followed. This will most likely entail lots of plots and subplots, conspiracies and counter-conspiracies, tragedies and betrayals and the stuff that grand fantasy drama is made of. Of course, there will be the usual 108 Stars of Destiny to track down and enlist to join your army, and up to ten of this motley crew will be able to join you on journeys and adventures throughout the vast land.
Graphically, the game looks pretty slick, with 3D graphics and pretty detailed character models making for a very beautiful-looking PS2 game. According to reviews, a lot of emphasis was placed on story and characters, things that were badly neglected in the previous game. Suikoden V is also said to be the longest of the games, so I hope that I'll be able to finish this despite that.

I already got a copy over the weekend, but it turned out to be a lemon- I'll have to get a working copy asap, perhaps along with the newly-released Kingdom Hearts II as well. Lots of great stuff to play over the Holy Week break (if I can pry myself away from the babes of Rumble Roses XX if I am fortunate to get a copy).

PLDT really SUCKS.

I thought I'd take back my previous PLDT Sucks comments last week, when they called up our house and asked for info. They promised that they'd send their linemen to install my DSL within the week.

Well whaddaya know? It's Next Week already and NADA. No DSL yet!

PLDT REALLY SUCKS!!!

And they'll keep sucking in my opinion until I get my DSL and am happy with it. BAH.

Better Memory

Yesterday I went off to Greenhills with my bud Pot for our usual Sunday lakwatsa. My particular goal on this day was to fish for the value of my O2 XDA II Mini and perhaps trade it in and upgrade to an XDA IIi.

Okay, the techies out there may ask, why would I go back to the bigger IIi when I already upgraded from my previous XDA II to the smaller, more portable and pocketable Mini? Well, to be honest it will be a bit of a jar to go back to a bigger PDA Phone after spending almost a year with my Mini. However, I've been eyeing the increased memory capability, faster processor and bigger screen of the IIi for a while.
The thing is, I haven't been able to find a 2 GB SD Card that works with my Mini- the available Ridata 150x speed cards don't work, and the Sandisk cards I've been waiting for have never arrived. And so, I was set for upgrading.

Well, it turns out that my loveable Mini, complete with all accessories, box and manual, fetches a grand 12k in the Greenhills market. WOT DA FOK? Twelve is a cheap Nokia or Sony Ericsson. Twelve is NOT a full-powered PPC Phone. I resolved to NOT sell or trade in my phone anymore. Cheap bastards.

The good news is, as I wandered elsewhere a bit after that disappointment, I found a new 2GB 120x speed SD Card in Infomax at Theater Mall... and the guy behind the counter was nice enough to let me try if the card worked on my Mini (I'd have to buy it though). And what do you know? It worked!

Now my O2 Mini is a 2 gig-monster. I've got the whole 3rd Season of Justice League Unlimited plus episodes of the super cool Avatar: The Last Airbender loaded as well as a ton of other stuff. Coolness.

Looks like I'll be hanging onto my little powerhouse for the forseeable future. Which suits me just fine. WOOHOO!!!

April Cool

The night of April 1 was no Fool's Day for us. The gang got together to congratulate Dean on the launch of his first published novel, Salamanca. The event was held at Fully Booked at the Promenade Mall in Greenhills. While there were tons of people, there were only a smattering of the usual suspects- the crowd seemed to consist more of the serious reading crowd as opposed to comic and grafiction enthusiasts.
Afterwards, Me and El and the Two Cams (Camy and Cams) headed off to the spankin' new V-Mall to shop around. Later, the gang had an extended dinner at Dampa in Libis, and then coffee at Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf in Timog.
To close the night, the gang just gathered around and updated everyone on comics, life developments and work. We all promised to continue working on comics and fun stuff through the year.

Keep cool, everyone. Later!

A Game I Cannot Refuse

I got myself a copy of The Godfather videogame for the PS2 during the week, and I'm actually a bit excited at trying it. There's a Create-a-Capo feature which starts off the game, and after you put together your customized Italian-American, you take your Made Man to take part in Mario Puzo's gangster epic-turned videogame.

According to write-ups, the game puts you in the role of a young man whose father is gunned down prior to the events in the first Godfather film. During the opening scene of the wedding of Don Corleone's daughter, your mama asks The Don for a favor- to make you a member of his family. Of course, Vito can't refuse a request made on his daughter's wedding so you're off on your merry way soon enough. The gameplay seems to be a mix of GTA free-roaming with shooting and driving elements. There are also extensive hand-to-hand combat moves... though it's more roughing up and beating some poor schmuck into being your milking cow rather than actual martial arts. Aside from taking part in the main and fixed Godfather storyline (which lets you participate in the aftermath of events such as the infamous Toll Booth massacre), you take over businesses and eventually try to spread your influence and become as powerful as the Don himself.

Sounds cool. The game has had some positive, if not altogether pretty good, reviews so far. I'll try to polish my tommy-gun skills over the weekend.

The Beginning of the End



Here's the first official image from The Last Angel, my next comic book project. There, I've said it. From here on in, if I'm working on a comic, it's this book.

Yes, this is the thing I've been calling "The Last Angel Ace Story". The change in title is to make this graphic novel a stand-alone book, so you don't really have to read the past Angel Ace comics to figure it out (but it would be a lot better). Yes, it does continue the story from the most recent releases of Angel Ace- The Again! series and Angel Ace Next, and stars the same characters. However, the book itself will go far beyond and before the events so far released to make this it's own story independent of any other release.

What's the story? Well, I don't want to spoil anything but a lot of it you can probably infer from the image above. Suffice to say, this is the end-all, be-alll of the Angel Ace series. There will be the same stuff readers of Angel Ace have come to know as familiar with the title- action and humor with liberal dashes of fan service. However, I intend to go a lot deeper into the characters this time around. There will be new stuff to go with the old though- including stuff I never thought I'd go to or go as far as. But I think it'll all be for the better of the story and the character.

I'm not sure how long development and production will take- I'm still hoping for a release within 2006. We'll see. I'll keep y'all posted as stuff happens.

PLDT Sucks

I've been applying for a DSL connection at home for the past three weeks, but still nothing. No wonder, I'm applying with the good ol' PLDT. These guys are probably the most inefficient bastards to run a phone company. Three weeks and still 'no cable' available. FUCK THAT!
If I could, I'd get another DSL connection elsewhere. Already trying. Anyway, I've already heard tons of horror stories about PLDT DSL- long hours of no connection and downtime. Maybe it's a blessing that it's taking forever. Maybe this is a sign I have to get my hi-speed internet somewhere else. FEH.

Tomb Raider Reloaded


Lara Croft returns in a big way this April.

I've been a Tomb Raider fan ever since the first game came out in the mid-nineties. It was a cool game, and the idea of having a female heroine in the driver's seat was pretty revolutionary at the time. Since then, I've played several of the games, seen both of the movies (both of which mostly sucked except for the casting of Angelina Jolie) and generally saw the rise and fall of a videogame icon. Yeah, Lara got her time in the limelight and is the object of admiration, affection and lust of countless gamers, but the games just got blander, the storylines more muddled and she just seemed to drift off into obscurity. The last TR game, Angel of Darkness, didn't do well and the failure of the second movie made plans for the third picture a bit unclear. Lara was on bad times.

But that all may change with the upcoming new game, Tomb Raider Legend. This time being produced by a new gaming developer, Crystal Dynamics, and backed by the original Lara Croft creator Toby Gard (who ironically was shut out of the previous TR games until now). TRL gives Lara a new coat of paint- she looks sexier and finer than ever, yet the designers still made it a point to give her a stylized look to emulate the original design instead of making her too realistic. The increased number of polygons also comes with a lessening of the bumpers- Lara's still hot, but the T&A isn't as blatant this time.
Aside from the cosmetic changes, Lara also comes with a whole new way of playing. Gone are the tank-like controls so Lara can now run, leap, climb, shimmy, swing and sneak with the greatest of ease. The gameplay is also now based on a new physics engine, and puzzles will supposedly be more puzzle solving than switch-finding. Also improved is the combat- Lara's fighting skills are improved with better targetting and even some Matrix-like moves to slow down time and target enemies even better. Slick stuff.

The new game also revitalizes/revamps the Tomb Raider story, starting from Lara's origins and taking the character on from there. The story will reportedly involve Lara's confronting an event in her past that has haunted her to the present day- the death of her mother. She will also cross swords with an old friend-turned enemy, and go across the world in a quest for a mysteirous artifact.
Stages will include actual tombs and ruins in Bolivia and Peru, as well as some urban settings. Aside from her usual Tombraiding get-up, Lara will slip into a sexy black cocktail dress to take on the Yakuza in Tokyo.

Tomb Raider Legend will be coming out early this April for the PS2, Xbox, PSP, Xbox360 and PC. I'll be sure to grab at least two of these versions (I'll try to grab a copy of the 360 game if I can) as soon as they become available. The game's already gotten a couple of top reviews in some game mags recently, so it looks to be a lot of cool gaming this April, and that's no joke. WOOHOO!!!!

Brokeback

WHY is there suddenly a proliferation of cowboy hats on the street these days? Is it all because of Brokeback Mountain? I saw a vendor hawking these black cowboy hats on the road a couple of days ago. This morning, a guy walked past me wearing one. So, is he being a cowboy or is he proclaiming he's gay? Has he even watched the movie and knows the significance of the new headgear? Hmmm.
But then again, it may be all just a coincidence and the appearance of cowboy hats is just a sign of the summer. Maybe. Right.

Victorious


Out of sight but never out of mind. You never see him, but Hugo Weaving is all V.

Last Sunday I got to watch V for Vendetta, the film adaptation of the comics and eventual graphic novel by Alan Moore and David Lloyd. I haven't yet read the actual comics, but I may soon thanks to the film. Set in a near-future England ruled by a fascist, totalitarian government that rules by fear, misinformation and brutality, V for Vendetta centers on two individuals. The first is, obviously, the masked freedom fighter known only as V (Hugo Weaving), a black-garbed avenger who sports a creepily ever-smiling Guy Fawkes mask. The second is Evey Hammond (Natalie Portman), a young woman V saves one night from the secret police. From their first meeting, V and Evey start a relationship that will rock their country and the cruel government that rules it.

This movie, despite being produced by The Wachowski Brothers is not an action-heavy film. There are about two or three scenes of pretty cool swords/knives versus guns action, but for the most part it's a film driven by plot and character. Nevertheless, I was glued to my seat from beginning to satisfying end. Since I haven't seen the graphic novel in its entirety, I can't comment on changes or improvements/faults based on the source material.

Despite this, I found the film to be an excellent watch, from production values to performances all around. Of note of course are Natalie Portman who redeems herself from her horrid Star Wars showings and Hugo Weaving, who seems to be one of my favorite actors now seeing that he's pretty much in most of my fave films. You never see his face, but it IS supposed to be him in the costume, which is odd but pretty cool. Also of note is a Hitler-esque John Hurt as the High Chancellor Sutler, Stephen Rea as the driven Chief Inspector Finch and Stephen Fry as Dietrich, the TV host who sympathizes with V and Evey with tragic results.

But aside from the enjoyment I got watching the film, I have to say that it's also a VERY apt film to watch in this point of our nation's history. Let us hope that we don't have to reach that kind of regime or ever need someone like V.

V for Vendetta is now showing in theaters all around the Metro. Watch it if you can.

Home Theater

The past month had been a storm of construction at the house, but now that was all pretty much over. Our former terrace and outdoor dining area was now an enclosed room and extension of the main house, complete with tiled floor, airconditioning and, ah, big-ass TV with DVD library. Add to that several relaxing chairs, a bed and you've got a pretty slick home theater setup. Once the biggie speakers my brother left with his TV are installed, it'll be a BLAST to watch stuff there. Might be enough to make me actually watch movies there instead of in The Sanctum. Well, as long as the movies are for public viewing. Heh.

Ang Mundo ni Andong Agimat


"Pu(*>#@%!!! Hindi ito Myth Class!!!"

When I was a kid, I remember watching these local shows on TV- movies and sometimes TV series- with some pretty wild shit. There were improbable, impossible stunts like the hero taking out two different targets with his last remaining bullet by placing a knife in front of his gun barrel. Or a guy becoming bulletproof thanks to a magical amulet. Or a gang of martial arts-fighting vigilantes dressed in matching red shirts and leather vests.
Weird funny shit, but also pretty cool in a way (though we'd never admit it). These were cult films, pulp action Filipino-style antics that could be seen as our own local version of Superheroes.

Superheroes and supervillains in denim jeans and jackets, bandannas, puruntong shorts, dusters, kamisetas and tsinelas without any capes, spandex or fancy-slick english code names in sight. Here, a hero can be named Berto and his nemesis could be that drunkard Roy down the block. Aling Nena the old fishball vendor could be a frickin' mangkukulam or sorceress for all you know. Jomar the taho vendor could be a half-demon in disguise. That's how it is here. In a word? Awesome.

But the World of Andong Agimat isn't a pretty, happy place. It's a bleaker, grimier, more seedy version of present-day Metro Manila (not even the flawed but hyper-realistic urban tableau he envisioned in Trip to Tagaytay). There is widespread poverty and garbage littering the streets, creeping about like a weird form of algae. To make matters worse, there's an alarmingly large amount of supernaturally-empowered individuals hovering about. Like gangs of goblin-like hooligans, unnaturally strong and quick gangsters and- most dangerous of all- a growing cult of almost diabolical, bloodthirsty and seemingly unstoppable cultists.



Into this world of super-powered crime and supernatural creatures steps in the titular Andong Agimat. A perpetually frowning protagonist whose eyes seem eternally hidden by his shadowy brows, Andong's quick hands with a gun and his invulnerability to bullets makes him the ideal occasional ally for the embattled police. But Andong is a drifter, a drinker and has his own ghosts to haunt him at night... crimes past and lost love. Obviously, Ando's not the ideal hero to lead a desperate battle to save a person of incalculable value from the stinking forces of evil, but hell, he's all the side of good has. So, he's gonna have to do. Bahala na si Batman.

Arnold Arre's latest graphic novel stands at over 200 pages- a pretty impressive work by any measure, and certainly one of the artist's more impressive showings. As always, Arnold's art is the first thing to notice- page upon page upon page of incredible panels full of bold, black and white lines, movement, action and characters jumping at you or from panel to panel. His art has improved once again (especially in action and fight scenes), though I gather that a lot of Andiong was actually made in the course of the past several years or so. As always, every panel is literally crawling with tons of detail and characters. It's such that you can pretty easily imagine the smell of the garbage and shit on the streets, or imagine the wonderful smell of characters like the pus-filled Big Bad slinking in the shadows. Once again, Arnold's mastery of ink and pen shows and then some.



To populate the metropolis is a cast of Arnold's most interesting character designs yet. Although Andong himself is admittedly just Arnold's own perpetual Hero-type Kubin (Myth Class) on a bad day, I find myself loving wilder, harsher designs like the skull-faced Hari ng Tondo, the malevolent and inaptly-named Jun Pogi and the fiery (literally) Tonyo Baga. Of course, it wouldn't be an Arnold Arre book without the BABES, and Agimat has them in spades, from lead heroine Silang and salamangkera Nara to uber bitch Satina and the incredibly cute speedster from Bicol, Mariang Tinik (Arnold's speedy characters are always damn cute). While Arnold's art is hardly manga, fan service is something I always look forward to and enjoy a lot in this one.



However, along with the welcome titillation is a heightened bit of violence and language, though while not blatantly presented is heavily implied... and this may raise an eyebrow or two among conservatives. I just hope that this doesn't restrict the book (though I dare say that little kids wouldn't get it anyway) or cause an uproar again like Tala's bare boobies in Myth Class.
Still on the topic of language, it cannot be ignored that Andong Agimat is written entirely in TAGALOG. In that, while I understand the story for the most part, some lines of dialogue, particularly the ones heavy with archaic Tagalese leave me bewildered and groping as to what the heck is being said. To be fair though, these lines are probably intentionally vague and you can usually understand through context.

That said, Agimat is not without flaws. While many sequences, particularly the opening scenes and pretty much all of the many action sequences, are brilliantly presented, the movement from one scene or stage to the next is sometimes a bit too leisurely given the urgent manner of the quest. Also, I question Arnold's decision to place the main hero away from all the action during not one but two crucial moments.

Given that there are so many things Arnold wants to show, say, express and explain, it's inevitable that there will be unwieldy moments and spots where the storytelling could have been more efficient, where clarity gets somewhat compromised. But these nitpicks are more than made up for the intricate and minute details poured into the panels, the almost cinematic way pages are presented and the action brought to still, yet moving, life. Yeah, it will take me a couple or may be more read-overs to get the whole thing but damn... this book looks so damn gorgeous that I don't mind.

Andong Agimat is undeniably again another spectacular epic rom Arnold up to the quality we've come to expect from such a passionate, prolific creator. The story is gripping and moves you to move page after page until the end, and even then you're left craving for more. As I've no doubt mentioned, the darn art is incredible and the detail is just crazy. This is also Arnold at his grittiest, which is something new to see, but not entirely off the rack.
It's still an Arnold Arre book, and that means there's still those Arnold Arre-ism that I've come to expect. Things like Good always winning over Evil in the end. Love conquering all. And the most darn awesome car-and-runner chases I've ever seen in comics.

Andong Agimat succeeds with the single act of bringing to life in language, theme, feel and design an incredible new world peopled by a pantheon of heroes and villains that are so visually striking, evocative and most importantly, undeniably Filipino. And it's a world that I definitely want to see more of.

In that, I'd readily say that it's my favorite of his works so far. Easily.

Andong Agimat is now available at comic book stores and good bookstores in Metro Manila (already confirmed to be in stock at Comic Quest Megamall), Tagalog language, Black-and-white art, 220 pages, Php400.00. If you love comics, run over to your comic store for your copy and enter the World of Andong Agimat. Now Na.

My Own Personal Agimat

Today I got my hot copy of Andong Agimat by Arnold Arre straight from the artist/creator himself! I feel very fortunate to be one of the select few to see the latest graphic novel from Arnold in advance, and I am dying to pull open the book and immerse myself in his new epic.
At more than 200 pages, Agimat dwarfs Arnold's Trip to Tagaytay in page count and is on par with After Eden, but short of the mammoth Myth Class volume. The book is also Arnold's first work in tagalog... I rarely hear Arnold TALK in tagalog, let alone write in it, so this will be something. As always though, Arn's distinctive art and character designs already mark this as a must-see for any fan of comics and graphic novels.

Expect a review as soon as I get to read my copy.

Andong Agimat by Arnold Arre will be out early this April at good bookstores and comic shops/stands in the Metro. Something to look out for.

Project Kris

Over the weekend I'll be starting a bit on Project Kris, which is a comics project which I will be writing for. It looks a bit daunting given that the stuff so far I have been given is a bit on the convoluted side- I'll have to do a bit of re-writing and setting down stuff to get everything into order and working as a cohesive and engaging comic book. I don't want to treat this as a job- the trick is to like it and do it like any of my personal titles, so I can get through it without letting details like having to deal with nitty gritties spoil the experience.

The trouble is, for starters, that it isn't a usual comic book that I do. Male hero, no special powers and probably no costume. But there's action aplenty and grittiness which is always interesting. And if all things go well, this job will fund my next book. Maybe I can treat it a bit like Powers. Or something like that. Anyway, more on this as I do it.

Shin Angyo Onshi



The title is surely a mouthful, but Shin Angyo Onshi is an anime movie that otaku would do well to check out. Just like the movie Wonderful Days (which I really haven't seen in its entirety), Shin Angyo Onshi is a Korean-made anime feature film. Based on the manhwa (Korean comics) of the same title, the movie is set in an alternate world in the aftermath of a great empire's collapse due to the death of the Emperor. As chaos and turmoil engulf the land, the only justice now left is in the hands of the Angyo Onshi, or 'Agents of the Empire' who dispense law by the power of their sacred/mystical seals.


Talk to the Badge.

Despite looking quite surly and cold, the wanderer Munsu is actually the titular Shin Angyo Onshi, or New Agent of the Fallen Empire. In fact, he seems to be extremely powerful given that he can use various magical abilities, not the least of which is the summoning of a phantom army to do his bidding.
The film actually has two parts, the first being the introduction of both Munsu and how he first meets his eventual follower/travelling companion/bodyguard Sando, a lovely and silent young woman who just happens to have almost divine skills in laying waste to any enemies stupid or brave enough to challenge her.


Sando AKA Death Incarnate in Bondage Lingerie.

The second part of the film deals with Munsu's and Sando's first adventure, which deals with a mysterious island where evil magic is afoot. The whole film then has the feel of being a pilot for an eventual anime series, not really closing anything but giving the impression of a whole lot of justice-bringing and butt-kicking to come.


These are actually the good guys, believe it or not.

Despite that, the film should satisfy with pretty slick animation, though slightly not the kind of quality you can expect from big budget Japanese anime. There's quite a bit of amazing fight scenes and accompanying fan service with Sando, whose outfit consists basically of skimpy bondage-type leather straps and strips of cloth wraps. Munsu on the other hand fills the bad-ass role as he uses guns (similar to Genjo Sanzo from Gensomaden Saiyuki). Both leads are pretty interesting characters- Munsu has a bit of an anti-hero bent as he can be quite cruel or even heartless with how he deals his justice... while Sando on the other hand despite being an unstoppable slice-and-dice killing machine still has a young girl's innocence and an irrational fear of crossing bridges. Hmm.

I can only hope that an actual anime series or more installments of the movie follow. Shin Angyo Onshi (or "Phantom Master") is not an easy-to-find title; I had to scour the land for weeks before I finally happened upon the source of my copy. Now it's on my phone for anytime viewing. HAHA! For everyone else, if you can, try to check it out if you happen upon it. It looks cool and is pretty good for an independent anime.

Zenzational!



Last Saturday I had the great fortune to be able to watch the second to the last staging of Zsa Zsa Zaturnnah: The Musical at the CCP. Thanks to Carl Vergara, who happened to create, write and draw the awesome comic from which the play is based on, me, Budjette and Cams got to watch what I believe to be one of the best and most inspired comic-to-performance translations ever.
Interestingly enough, me and Cams actually almost came late to the affair thanks to heavy traffic on EDSA. Thankfully we were able to arrive shortly after the theater doors opened, and we were on our great second row seats (right behind actors Roderick Paulate, Cherrie-Pie Picache and screenwriter Ricky Lee as the show started.

The whole theater itself was surprisingly small- I don't know if there could have been more than five hundred people in the whole audience. The stage spilled out into an aisle between the audience and out into the exit area. The stage itself seemed sparse and I wondered how they would be able to visualize and bring to life a superhero comic. Did they succeed?

With effing Flying Colors.

I have to say that I have never, ever been to a play that had me laughing so much and so into the performances. Granted, this has special resonance for me being a beloved comic (I am such a big Zsa Zsa fan), but darn, I have to commend director Chris Millado, Musical composer Vincent de Jesus, comic adapter Chris Martinez and the rest of the play's production staff for such a vibrant, faithful and innovative translation of the original comic... I wholeheartedly believe that Zsa Zsa The Musical is just as viable a comic book-to-movie translation as any of the big budget superhero flicks. No, really. It's that darn good. How else can you describe a play that succceeds in visualizing montage panels, goes so much deeper into characters and actually improves on the already hilarious gags and dialogue from the comic? I found myself seeing comic panels brought to life right before my eyes again and again.

I have to applaude the entire cast, with special mention of Eula Valdez who not only looks SMASHING as Zsa Zsa, but impressed everyone with her POWERful singing voice and total performance. Then there's Agot Isidro as the villainess Femina Varoux who just gets the look down PERFECT, as well as keeping a straight face throughout all her entirely english dialogue... Tuqx Rutaquio as Ada (Zsa Zsa's alter ego) and Ricci Tan for being THE personification of the comic's Didi. Kudos and wholehearted applause to the rest of the cast and the members of the Tanghalang Pilipino Actors Company who brought this perfect play to life. Superheroes, brilliantly campy humor, Matrix martial arts, Giant Frogs, zombies, big hair, skimpy outfits... What's not to love? Abzolutely Amazing!

The only negative is the relative few people who have seen this gem. I know every single staging has been SOLD OUT, yet many many more people have not seen this show. I truly hope ZZTM gets a re-staging, and perhaps in a bigger venue. This play simply has GOT to be seen by more people. If you read comics you absolutely MUST see this play. Carl, congratulations for being the first contemporary comic creator to see your baby realized in perhaps the best way ever. WOOHOO!!!


Cams, Zsa Zsa (Eula Valdez) and one Happy MADman.


Carl and his superheroine with Budjette.

C means Cannon Fodder

It's tough to be a superhero these days. Particularly if you're a 'B' or 'C' Lister. This means you're not one of the big boys (and few girls) who bring in the big bucks for the comic book companies. Recent and upcoming events in the major comic book universes have so far had the alarming penchant for killing off their supporting or not-so-main heroes seemingly for shock value purposes.
I have the bad luck of liking books that feature such kinds of heroes. Take DC's Batgirl, which got cancelled, perhaps not in small part to the events of the current "Infinite Crisis" event. Yeah, Cassandra Cain's still alive but her future is as yet uncertain. In Marvel, it's even worse. In the latest issue of New Avengers, the Canadian super team Alpha Flight is apparently killed OFF PANEL. They don't even get the decency of a real cool final battle or death scene. What an ignoble end to a team that has been around almost as long as I have been into comics.
The New Warriors also seem to be headed for cannon fodder status, as they are apparently the ones who will be involved in the event that will directly cause the upcoming Civil War mini-series in Marvel. I particularly find the way the Warriors have been treated recently as distasteful to the extreme- they've been around as a group since the 90s, and haven't been given decent writing or art which could have made them a more viable team. I hope that they don't go the way of Alpha Flight though- if anything, the preview of Civil War makes me curious, so at least that aspect of the gimmick works. Sucks though if Namorita dies... Grrr.

Bah. Lousy DC and Marvel. At least I myself would NEVER kill off a character just for a cheap gimmick or to sell comics...



Okay, maybe not really NEVER but not often...