Shock Advertising


One of the controversial 'Executed' print ads of the Hitman: Blood Money game.

If you buy imported gaming magazines regularly, you're sure to have come upon at least one of the eye-catching advertisments for Hitman: Blood Money. Playing with various puns or sayings with the word 'Executed', the ads portray victims of assassination... or some would say, just plain murder. In "Beautifully Executed", a lingerie-clad woman is lying provocatively on satin sheets, a small bullet wound on her forehead. In "Coldly Executed", an old man's corpse is hunched inside a walk-in freezer, with a little dog sitting and staring at the body from the outside. "Classically Executed" features a cellist seated on his chair in an opera theater, his neck slit. And of course, the "Shockingly Executed" ad is the one featured above.
Apparently, these ads haven't escaped the attention of various groups and individuals whose comments range from the ads being mysoginistic, inspiring violence towards women or glorifying murder. A big hubbub is going on right now. They're ads for a mature game, with a bald-headed assassin taking out targets in various, often brutal and imaginative, ways. What do you expect? IMO, the ads are clever and quite attention-grabbing, to say the least. They look quite nice too, murder simulated images notwithstanding. I think it's just another scapegoat for US politicians to blame with videogames for all the crime and violence they have. Feh.

I still don't believe that staring at ads featuring beautiful naked women will turn you into a murderer if you aren't one already. I do, however, get the urge to kill whenever I read about politicians in the local newspaper. Oh well.

Batugan (Translation: Lazybones)

At present, I'm a habitual taxi rider. I've always been a commuter (thanks to my feeling that road rage would make me into a mass murderer behind the wheel), but these days I just want to dispense with crowding into sweat-smelling crowded MRTs and buses that make hour-long stops. Taxis get you to where you want to go, fast. It's not cheap, but I can afford it. In the past several months, I've seen good taxi drivers and bad taxi drivers. I curse them, praise them, damn them to hell or lift them up as saviours of the race. Ah, taxi drivers.
Well, early today I got another memorable taxi experience. I was heading to work, standing at Katipunan to hail a cab. The sixth or so taxi that passed finally stopped and when I mentioned my destination, he nodded. I hopped in and we were off. Seconds later, he asked me again where we were headed. Apparently, the guy was only now realizing he was headed for Makati.

Anyway,, some minutes later, as we were on C-5 Highway, in the middle of nowhere, the cab starts to slow. The guy stops at the sidewalk, and then starts trying to 'restart' the engine. "There seems to be something wrong with the starter," he says, trying several times to bring the engine to life. Of course, to no avail. He blames the owner of the cab for replacing the starter with some cheap part. As he apologizes to me for the inconvenience, saying that this is as far as he can go. I respond with "I'm sorry too." At which point, I get out of the cab and start walking away.
The grungy cabbie (he's not even in uniform- just a t-shirt and 'puruntong' shorts, showing he's a colorum driver) calls my attention and asks for payment. I angrily respond with a negative. "YOU LEAVE ME OUT HERE IN THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE AND YOU HAVE THE GALL TO ASK ME FOR PAYMENT??" He says something about the starter, but I don't even bother to listen. I keep walking. You could argue that I could have paid him for the distance I came, but I knew what the real score was. I hated being conned.
Another cab came and I hailed it. It stopped and I jumped in. "Makati," I said, and the old driver nodded. I looked ahead at where the other cabbie, with his supposedly stalled taxi, should have been.

Of course, he had driven off by then. That was fast for a cab that wouldn't start.

StarZ

Today I found out on the local news that the final casting of the movie adaptation of Carl Vergara's Zsa Zsa Zaturnnah has been announced. Regal Films held a press conference with the actors involved, as part of the film's inclusion in the upcoming Metro Manila Film Festival.
Playing the title role of superheroine Zsa Zsa is Zsa Zsa Padilla, whom I believe is a far better choice than the other names touted to be in the running for the part. To play the alter-ego of ZZZ, gay beautician Ada, will be controversial actor Rustom Padilla (another better choice IMO than the former rumoured actor for the part). Playing the villainess Femina will be Pops Fernandez, while comedian Chocoleit of TV's Marina will be playing the loveable sidekick Didi.

How great will the ZZZ Movie be compared to the sublime musical play? We'll just have to see later this year.

Eye Candy

Over the weekend, I and my friend Pot went off through the rain to Greenhills to get upgrades for The Sanctum's PC. Apparently the thing that had been plaguing me all these months was a faulty, underpowered power supply, so that was my primary goal. Another thing on my list was a new monitor.
I got what I was told was a 'branded' power supply, which the shopkeeper and his tech guy recommended as the best I could get. It was a bit more expensive than the usual (and supposedly low quality) component, but I shelled out the cash just the same. With that out of the way, I looked for the next item on my list.

Looking around the swanky shops in V-Mall, it was easy to get enamoured with the large LCD Monitors now making the rounds in the computer sections. Such a thing was beyond my budget though, so I made do with a LG Flatron Monitor, which boasted a flatscreen at about half the price of an equivalent LCD. Not bad! Before we finally called it a day and left the mall, I had the fortune of finding an Asian version of Oblivion at one of the new game/anime shops. FYI, Oblivion is the first first-person RPG on the Xbox360, and it's gotten rave reviews for the incredible graphics, redone fighting system, open-ended gaming world and lush story. I've been wanting this game for a while (the US version is unplayable on my Japanese system), so I scooped it up. Fortunately, the Asian version is cheaper than the US game by quite a bit.

It was a hard day of malling, and I'm feeling quite a bit under the weather right now... but seeing my lovely new monitor (and the crisp colors) as well as a lovely new addition to my Xbox360 library (review to come), makes me feel all warm and tingly inside. Good stuff.

Comicology

On the comics front, K.I.A. - Kai: Indomitable Assassin is once again available in Comic Quest Megamall. From reports by some friends, it is also on the shelves at Power Books Shangri-La Edsa (Yay!). So if you still haven't gotten a copy of the 160-page super assassin babe anthology, what are you waiting for? Of course, we have Nautilus Comics and Jamie Bautista to thank for getting K.I.A. out wherever we can.

On the subject of Project KRIS,I can't really go into detail about it as of yet. I will go as far as saying that it's not a comic for local sale. I was hired to write out and develop the characters and produce the scripts of every issue. So far things have gone well, with the first two scripts approved, the third submitted and pending approval, and the first issue printed and done. I received a copy of the first issue a couple of day ago, and it came out nicely.
It's kinda ironic that my first mass-distributed, full-color comic isn't really something I can show off right away, nor will it conceivably be released here in Manila. In any case, once I am able I'll tell you guys all about it.

Development is still going on Angel Ace and other stuff. More news here when it happens. That's that for now on the home front.

It's been a bit hard to keep up with comics lately since I haven't been able to go to Megamall regularly, but last night I got all my faves. As expected, Cassandra "Batgirl" Cain continues to get SCREWED in the pages of Robin (all I can say it, there had better be a light at the end of this tunnel... Grrr...).

52 is into week seven, but I'm finding it hard to get into. So many characters, not all interesting... dialogue-heavy panels and not-so-stellar art may be the culprits. Oh well. It's like cable. You order the whole kit and kaboodle but of course there are things you won't watch like the racing channel or several dozen Arabian networks. Same with 52. Not sure if I should continue getting this.

At least Alex Ross' Justice maxi-series continues to impress, with classic Giganta making her presence felt. It's great to see DC's biggest villainess in her familiar costume, ever since the arrival of the watered-down "Dr. Zuel" version in the new Wonder Woman. Another bad babe making an appearance in the issue is Poison Ivy (who looks EXACTLY as her action figure, which is awesome). The embattled Justice League is FINALLY realizing they're being picked off one by one (well, DUH) but it's still bleak for heroes. We're halfway through this 12-issue series and I'm in for the long run. How about extending this to an ongoing series, DC? Justice DCU rocks.

And on the Marvel Comics front, Civil War #2 came out and I have to admit I am hooked. I want to see this series to it's end, which should be pretty cool. Not really too crazy about the tie-up issues, but the main title's art and writing are pretty sublime. War may be hell but this is one comic I am glad to read.

Ah, so many comics, so little time to read...

Gimme Gimme Gimme

I was finally able to walk around a mall yesterday... the past couple of weeks have been simply a war of work at The Salt Mines. Looking around Cyber Zone at Megamall, I saw that while the 3-Gig loaded Samsung i300 was on display at several shops, it doesn't seem to be in stock (which was pretty infuriating). Anyway, my real quarry, the i310, was of course nowhere to be seen. Just as well... the 8-Gig smartphone will probably take a while to get here, and I am still mulling over what's more important- quantity or quality. Is the ability to bring along 8 Gigs of video more important than having a bigger screen? Yeah, the resolution is still 240X320, but it'll hurt to lose real estate. Guess I'll have to wait till I actually see reviews and have the phone in front of me.

On another front, I'm thinking of getting a new monitor for The Sanctum's PC. My old monitor's been around since the era of Diablo 2, and the color's been going wanky at times. It still works, but I think it's high time to replace it. A more expensive but lovely LCD monitor beckons me, but I question my real need for it. Will I just get a 19-inch screen instead? I'll find out over the weekend.

Ah, so many things to buy, so little cash. Bah.

Snapshots

Here are some of the pics I took during the birthday weekend...


I love saying that seeing Arnold and Cynthia is as rare as (insert rare thing here). But somehow, someway, they do manage to show up when it counts. Last Friday was one such time. We spent the late evening at Cravings and talked about old times, current times and future plans (plans within plans...) over a nice dinner and a scrumptious dessert. I'm hoping that it doesn't take me having another birthday to see these two again. Till next time, Arres!


Me and my college buds call ourselves collectively the BLT Crew- on one hand, it means "Brains, Looks and Talent". On the other, it just means "Born Loser Team". Why? We love the comic strip 'Born Loser'. And we have the irritating knack for getting into slippery situations when we're together. Maybe one of us has the proverbial 'balat sa puwit'. No, we've never checked. Every now and then we meet and when we do, the laughter never ends. So we'll be sure to keep meeting for years to come.


The Comic Quest gang rarely meets these days, but when we do it's always inspiring. Meeting with such creative and dynamic individuals just makes you want to produce more. Telling stories is our collective passion so whenever I can, I'll always give time for the group. We've done great things before, and we'll do more in the future, that's for sure.

Whew. Till next year, everyone. I'll be posting these pics and more at my Phlog as soon as I can. Later!

Heir Apparent


The upcoming Samsung i310 Smartphone.

For the past several months, I've been seeing phone, smartphones and PDAs come and go. Nothing has really impressed me enough to even consider replacing my current sidekick, the O2 XDA II Mini. Some have gotten a bit close- like the upcoming Sony Ericsson W950i, whose nice, slim, calculator-like form factor attracted me. Even more amazing is the 4 gig flash memory in the phone. However, the W950i has no camera, and the Symbian OS doesn't have the video playing capability I require. Recently, I saw the Nokia N91 and while that was cool, it was inadequate for me again.

But now, here comes the Samsung i310. It's a smartphone, running Windows Mobile 5.0 for Smartphone, and comes with a hi-res 2" screen, 2 megapixel digital video and still camera with flash and, get this- an 8 Gigabyte Hard Disc. 8 GIGS!!! WHOA! Imagine how many movies, anime episodes and other videos I can stuff into 8 Gigs! Plus, the phone comes with a TV-Out feature, so I can conceivably watch loaded videos on a bigger screen than the supplied 320 x 240 TFT screen. Awesome!

It seems perfect- the only flaws seem to be a slightly smaller screen size and that I have to sacrifice some apps made for Windows Mobile 2003, which will not be playable or usable in the Windows Smartphone, plus the loss of a touchscreen and stylus input. However, I do have my prime app- The Core Media Player which is pretty much MPEG-quality video anywhere, anytime. And the huge storage space plus a great camera should make up for that.

Pretty awesome gadget... I'll be sure to keep my eyes open for it locally. But will it really replace my Mini? We'll see then, when I get one in my grubby, mobile-hungry hands. Heh.

Under Siege

That's kind of how it felt like to walk into RCBC Plaza today. This is in the light of the news reports yesterday that some new subversive group is threatening to blow up the building. Apparently, letters were sent cautioning tenants and employees of the monolithic structure to leave for their own safety (this particular group is apparently careful to keep casualties nil).
Well, I'm in the Salt Mines anyway. There doesn't seem to be much chance of anyone sneaking in a nuclear weapon into this place- which seems to be pretty much the only way to destroy the whole building. In any case, the security (which was already tight under normal times) has been beefed up even more, making the place pretty much a fortress. Better yet, a fortress with it's own 7-11.

Anyway, crossing fingers that no bomb or other evil device ever makes it into the Salt Mines. Back to work, then.

Celebrations

While my birthday was actually early last week, the actual celebrations took place over the weekend. I actually had three separate meets with various groups of friends in my life, which was pretty rewarding.

On Friday, I had dinner with Arnold and Cynthia. The Arres met me at Cravings in Katipunan where we spent a grand time reminiscing, getting up to date on news and stuff about life, other friends and comics and just having a good laugh. I see these two dear friends only so rarely so it was a distinct pleasure to just hang for a couple of hours.
Saturday saw the Comic Quest gang at the homestead to feast on Mom's now-famous spaghetti. Thankfully, everyone stuffed their faces until they were pleasantly stuffed with meat sauce, so I guess the party was a success. Aside from the veteran crew of Dean, Vin, Nikki and Cams, newcomers to the Salt Mines included El, Jamie, Andrew, Kate and Alex.
And finally, Sunday brought together my old college barlada (or the BLT Crew) to The Sanctum, and once again the spaghetti sauce flowed like a river. Of the gifts that I got, one I am really thankful for is Andrew's fixing of my PC... hence, my ability to blog and surf (and download stuff) once more.

Thank you, thank you, thank you for making the birthday weekend a pretty fun and cool experience. Let's do it all again next year! Pics will be posted soon on my phlog. Later!

Belated

Thanks to The Sanctum's PC suffering the apparent inevitable bout of non-functionality, I wasn't able to blog on my own birthday. Anyway, I turned one year older yesterday... I'm now a little bit wiser, a little bit heavier, a little bit lazier. Thanks to everyone who texted, called and greeted me on my personal day of days. While I had grand plans to go out and paint the town red, splurge all of my non-existent savings on various impulse buys and whatnots, I pretty much spent the day at home, resting and just vegetating- the afternoon rain showers just lulled me to sleep for the most part, nixing any plans to go out. Hopefully I'll get the PC working again soon- on Sunday (when tech support arrives) at the latest. I want my DSL back. Heh. Also, got to pencil two pages of the Angel Ace comic, which is good. It's a start.

Again, thanks to everyone for the greetings! Here's to more MADness to come in the months and months and years and years ahead.

From Angel to Sinner

There's a hot rumor going around that Sin City director Robert Rodriguez has a hankering for none other than Miss Lara Croft herself, Angelina Jolie, for the pivotal role of Ava Lord in the Sin City sequel. Ava is a femme fatale antagonist in the book A Dame To Kill For, a book she shares with characters like Dwight (previously played by Clive Owen), Gail (Rosario Dawson), Miho (Devon Aoki) and Manute (Michael Clark Duncan).

Angelina Jolie would make an AWESOME femme fatale temptress and villainess... far more awesome than other supposed frontrunners for the part (Frank Miller has mentioned that other actresses considered include Salma Hayek and Rose McGowan). Jolie certainly out-stars these other girls.

Rodriguez is apparently delaying the project in order to wait for Jolie to recover from her recent pregnancy. If Angelina does push through, it should be worth the wait. Woowie.

Gadget Lust

Today I got to fiddle around with an officemate's Nokia N91 mobile phone, which was pretty fun. The N91 is the Finnish developers' answer to the Ipod and Sony Ericsson Walkman phones- a Series 60 Symbian-powered Smartphone loaded with a 4 Gigabyte Hard Drive, music playing capabilities and a nice, professional-looking stainless steel exterior. I wanted to see if it was as good in person as it was in paper, and to test the video-playing capabilities (which is pretty much my first priority with mobiles).
For one thing, the N91 is pretty big- it's not heavy but the top-heavy bar shape fills your hand pretty much... and I have large hands. The phone is longer than my O2 Mini, but a bit thinner. On the good side, the phone feels firm and solid.

Loading music onto the N91 is a drag-and-drop affair; plugging it into a laptop or desktop computer with a mini-USB port will turn it into a hard drive. About 3.5 Gigs are yours to use, which you can fill up with photos (shot with the 2M Cam) or vids, or with tunes (the phone supports MP3, WMA and AAC files). While the music played fine (in fact, quite excellently), I unfortunately wasn't able to test video since the phone didn't have Smartmovie installed (which is an additional app, after all... ah, Smartmovie... my best friend in the pre-Betaplayer days...). On the other hand, it's just as well... the N91 has a dinky little screen that hearkens back to the 6600 and 7610 days... watching movies on it would be painful for me now, used as I am to relatively enormous PPC screens.

And so, while it was pretty cool to hold and play with the N91 for a while, Nokia's latest stunner won't be replacing my Mini. Fortunately. Anyone else who is interested in the slick new music phone (and it's 3G capable too, if that floats your boat) should go try one out for size... it's quite a nice gizmo.

A Night of Extinct Ice Monsters and Fiery Food

I finally got to get to Megamall after a two-week gap from my last visit. I have to say that the place seems to have changed a bit since I last saw it. For one, the Ice Monster shop near the Skating Rink is gone... replaced by a carpet kiosk, of all things. That made me feel kind of sad. While Ice Monster WAS really just a glorified Halo-Halo stand, it was pretty cool (pun intended). It's strange... these fad things usually go out of business due to competition stealing away sales. But there really weren't any copycat Ice Monster businesses that popped up ala the Zagu and Shawarma debacles of years past. Maybe people just got tired of icy whatever-snacks and it's time was just up. Anyway, I think there are still Ice Monsters elsewhere in other malls, so no worries if you get a lychee or sweet potato or mango on ice craving.

I got my bunch of comics for the last couple of weeks, and picked up the latest issue of UNO Magazine, which has Meiling Melancon on the cover and inside. Miss Melancon, if you would remember, played Psylocke (all ten seconds of her) in the recent mutant blockbuster X-men: The Last Stand. At least the mag gives her a bit more... exposure (heheh). Too bad she won't be coming back for any possible sequel, given that Psylocke was scattered to atoms by Phoenix. Oh, and finally I got my copy of Gerry's Elmer, which I'll read and review as soon as possible.

I finished the night with a dinner of spicy Butter Chicken and Hot & Sour Soup at Lemon Grass (Fire Nation food, as the Avatar fan in me would say) which was quite filling. With my stuff in hand and a hot, full tummy, I was off home. My downloads were waiting. Heh.

And now for something pretty AWESOME...

If you thought that talk of a Transformers movie was just a load of bull, check THIS out.



I can almost hear "You've got the touch" playing in the background... WOOHOO!

Overtime X


Overtime, Assemble!

Who says I haven't been able to do any comics lately? Take tons of overtime, inebriation from soft drinks, a random discussion about Image Comics in the 90s, a digital camera, Photoshop and an inexplicably large amount of free time and you get THIS. The Salt Mines Crew just flipped our collective lids and struck a group superhero pose ala WildC.A.T.s or Stormwatch. It's actually grown into a full-blown digital comic- glorious non-action in multiple panels that you can find here. Unfortunately I'm not really in the issue but what the heck. Heh.

Local Comics Stuff

On my end of local comic publication, the Angel Ace graphic novel is still main on my thoughts. I've decided to include the Angel-Kai friendship and the SIVA origin chapter (which is a book in itself) into it, as well as tying up the loose end from Angel Ace Next (which gave rise to K.I.A.) in the book... it won't do for Angel to just let her best friend get sent through hell and back without batting an eye. The book is still in the writing/concept phase, though I am trying to get started on actual pencils. It's hard, I have to admit. But once I get started, this should go fast.

On the flipside, Project KRIS is happening. I am going to say though that this comic is NOT what anyone here probably expects- for one thing, it's not a mainstream release comic and I am only writing it (art is being done by someone else). Once it is done, I may show it here. Suffice to say that Project KRIS is funding Angel Ace, so that's what's making it worth my while.

As for other stuff, I still am seriously considering doing a webcomic. It's just a matter of deciding on the content. Kunoichi Boy and K.I.A. installments are okay, but I want something new. We'll see what I think up of as it happens.

On other local comics releases, I got to see the manga zine edition of Psicom's Otaku! zine. All I can say is... they need an editor, bad. Typos and wrong grammar abound, while the content is all derivative of existing manga/anime with art varying from amateurish to passable in quality. Not even the glossy paper and color printing can make me get into this. Can't fault them for trying, but it's not a good try.

That's that for now. See you on the comic stands, people!

Hitting Pause

After a week of continuous brainstorming, overtime office stay-overs, delivered fast food and lost weekends, I finally got a bit of a break today. Of course, it's just a day off but these little things are enough to keep a guy sane (even MADmen need to keep a bit of sanity). I'm not sure it it's a sign of age or just of the times, but I'm now pretty content to just stay in at The Sanctum to kick back and enjoy the abundant baubles and pleasures I collected during my more outgoing, impulse-buying days. Maybe it's because of the DSL connection that lets me download my anime and media instead of having to hunt for it in some mall or black market.

Anyway, today is a rest day so the only stress I am allowing myself is to decide on what to do tonight- either traipsing into some musty tomb with my brand new copy of Tomb Raider Legend on the Xbox360 or watch some DVDs. Decisions, decisions.

Finger-licking Good


Click Play to see the Trailer!

From Gerry Alanguilan, comics extraordinaire and creator of Wasted and tons of cool grafiction comes Elmer, a truly unique local comic in these days of generic superheroes and manga rip-offs. What is Elmer all about?

ELMER is a window into an alternate Earth where chickens have suddenly acquired the intelligence and consciousness of humans, where they consider themselves a race no different than whites, browns or blacks, and push to recognize rights for themselves as the newest members of the human race. It tells the story of a family of chickens who live and struggle to survive in a suddenly complicated, dangerous and yet beautiful world.
ELMER is published through Komikero Publishing and Alamat Comics, and will run a projected 4 issues. First issue is 32 pages. 5.5"X8.5" Color covers, black and white interiors.
Elmer is now available in Comic Quest Megamall, Comics Odyssey Robinson's Place Malate and Druid's Keep in Magallanes. For a look, go visit Gerry's Komikero Website.

I've yet to read this, but I'll be sure to grab a copy once I get to pass by CQ. As a lover of fried chicken myself, this is sure to be an interesting read...

Out of the Closet


The new Batwoman. Cross Silver Age design with Batman Beyond colors and personality from Will and Grace.

Recently, DC has just revealed the all-new, controversial Batwoman, who will be appearing in the weekly series 52 (which chronicles the missing year that passed after the company's monumental Infinite Crisis and just before the One Year Later issues. Batwoman first appeared in the final issue of IC, but only recently has there been solid info on her.
This new Batwoman's secret identity is one Kathy Kane, a lesbian woman who apparently has ties or past links to both disgraced police officer Renee Montoya and Bruce Wayne. According to DC's Executive Editor Dan Didio, they wanted to refresh the Batwoman character, giving her an all-new ideology, personality, backstory and treatment that's in line with the radical changes brought about by Infinite Crisis. "Blame Superboy Prime," is the catch phrase. This new Bat Family member is a member of high society as well as being gay, and will have been operating in Gotham in the year that Batman left for his sabbatical after IC. The character's costume was designed by none other than Alex Ross, who gave nods to both the Silver Age Batwoman design and the black-and-red color scheme from Batman Beyond.

So what will Batwoman's sexual orientation do to affect her storylines? Will we see her getting intimate with Gotham's femme fatales? Perhaps. Perhaps not. It should make for some new ways of approaching interactions between characters. The new Batwoman will be making her debut in July's 52 #11.

As for me, I'm curious about the character but I'm still quite pissed by the fact that Cassandra Cain has been transmorgified into a "Lady Shiva Junior" as head of the League of Assassins in the Robin title. Well, according to Didio's teasing remark, there may be a future yet for Cassie as Batgirl... maybe. Grrr. Whatever. We'll see what happens in the colorful world of comics in the next several weeks.

Bullets and Broads


Trash-talking, tattooed, gun-toting, violence-prone Levi. Yep, I like her.

I've already been through every single episode of Avatar, including the latest one (which I was able to download and watch a day after it premiered). Since the next episode of the Aang Gang's adventures won't be for another week, I decided it would be good to get myself interested in another show while I'm waiting.

That show turned out to be Black Lagoon, a slick new anime from Madhouse (Ninja Scroll) and Geneon. While Avatar, a US cartoon, is all about positive values along with the solid, epic storyline and martial arts magical action, this properly Japanese anime is pretty much everything a parent would probably NOT want her kids to see. Black Lagoon is, to put it simply, about the adventures of a gang of pirates. No, not even loveable rogues like Captain Jack Sparrow... these are mean, nasty folk who tote guns and would shoot you as soon as look at you. The only thing that separates the crew of the PT Boat Black Lagoon from the rest of the armed rabble and mercenary scum of their world (which seems to consist of the waters in the East China Sea) is their hard sense of honor and a slight nice streak. Very slight.

The first episode of course introduces us to our surrogate into this vicious world of modern buccanneers- Okajima Rokuro, a young Japanese salaryman who just wants to live a normal life in his regimented, regulated office. Unfortunately for Okajima, he gets sent on a ship to transport a valuable disk containing critical information that gets hijacked on the high seas. The kidnappers are, of course, the crew of the Black Lagoon- consisting of big, black brother Dutch, super-hot and kinda-psychotic superkiller Chinese babe Levi (or Revi) and Jewish tech guy/communicator Benny. As the Lagoon crew takes the disk, Levi snags along hapless Okajima so they can get extra cash for his ransom. Unfortunately, it soon becomes apparent that Okajima's employers have given up on him and the disk, sending a bunch of mercenary assassins to get rid of all of them, in one fell swoop.

And so, in the course of dodging bullets and battling helicopter gunships, Okajima eventually ditches his last chance to rejoin his former world and instead joins the Lagoon crew as a sailor, taking on the name Rock and becoming a pirate himself. Hey, if I had a choice between being continually bullied by either some corporate SOB or a gorgeous babe in super-skimpy cut-offs, I'd become a pirate too. Heh. From there on in, much of the drama in the show will showcase how mild-mannered salaryman Rock interacts with his new (and slightly mentally imbalanced) mates... and how the skills he's learned as an office worker actually prove useful in the dangerous underworld of organized crime syndicates and assassins. Hmm. Interesting.

Anyway, Black Lagoon is excellently animated and seems, for now, pretty much all about brainless, spectacular and violent action and the occasional sexy pose from Levi- not a bad anime combo. It's a pretty mature anime that isn't afraid to be bad-ass and nasty. The fan service though is nowhere near the uncomfortable levels as in the Aika series, so it's really more of a straight action title than a fetish show- so it should be quite watchable by most mature anime fans. It's pretty clear that Levi's a big draw for this title... in any case, there hasn't been a good girl-with-guns anime for a while that really lets itself cuts loose. This looks to be a cool ride.


As crazy as she is hot. Uh-oh...

Storm

Yeah, Halle Berry still kinda sucked in X3, but she did have her kick-ass moments... but the movie Storm was nothing compared to the real thing.

As a sidenote to my X3 review, the aftermath of our movie night was no less memorable. As the gang headed off in separate ways to eventually rendezvous at some dinner place, nature exploded in a pretty spectacular lightning storm. For about an hour, rain fell in fierce buckets and there were more flashes than a paparazzi party. Whole areas of the metropolis around us blacked out as power lines failed. There didn't seem to be any refuge as the resto we were originally headed for- Dampa at Libis- also fell into darkness. It was so bad that a taxi was even hit by lighting on the road, according to the others in the gang, who saw it from their car (relayed to us by text).

Vin, Andrew and I spent the whole time weathering through traffic-choked and flooded roads to make it back to the central Ortigas area, where we eventually decided to dine at The Podium's Chinese Star restaurant for some hot Chinese food. What a storm. But I feel good at having gone through it. Darn, that was exciting, if a bit scary.

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.