Rain, Rain...

It's getting old. Really.

I mean, all this frickin' RAIN that insists on falling early in the morning, drizzling the whole place and making the simple act of getting out of your bed an agonizing chore. The loud pitter-patter, the hypnotic applause of a million million raindrops just screams STAY INDOORS in countless tiny voices.

But when you have to go, you have to go. Even if the darn traffic always seems to multiply by 10 when it rains (as if people, like gremlins, multiplied when soaked), even if the blasted water seeps into your shoes, soddening your feet cold for the whole day.

Rain should only fall in the morning on weekends. When we can afford to stay home and follow it's commands.

There has to be a law. Feh.

Pocket Fighter

I've been playing quite a bit of Tekken: Dark Resurrection on my spiffy new PSP... pretty inevitable since it's as yet my only game on my new toy. Anyway, the beauty of a fighting game is that you they have, basically, some of the best replayability of any game genre. Well, at least the good ones do. There have been crappy fighters that you would hate a minute after playing it the first time, and there have been shallow brawlers that you get tired of in a day or two. Tekken, particularly the latest Tekken (Tekken 5 and PSP's DR included) is thankfully among the best fighters around. The fighting system is rock-solid and challenging, with awesome attacks and fighting styles, a ton of characters to choose from and gobs and gobs of extras.
Tekken: Dark Resurrection is a port of the arcade-only (so far) upgrade to the PS2 Tekken 5; all the available characters from T5 are available off the bat with no unlocking needed. As I've mentioned before, there are two brand new fighters, each of which fits into the general theme of things quite well: mash-friendly dancing lolita Lili and touchy-feely commando Dragunov. Then there's Armor King, who was supposed to be dead but somehow back and piledriving everyone in sight... perhaps that's why this game was given the 'Dark Resurrection' subtitle.

The many videos available online don't really do the game justice in terms of eye candy. Tekken DR looks positively smashing on the PSP screen. The crisp, detailed character models emulate their arcade and PS2 counterparts almost exactly, save for slight simplifications. Overall, the detail can't be faulted- hands have individual fingers and up close, faces are perfectly rendered. Animation-wise, the fighting action moves at a perfect 60 frames per second- translation, smooth as silk fighting that's as fast as lightning.

More eye candy is to be had with a brand new intro CG movie and tons more cinematics to unlock and enjoy (though you've probably seen most of them if you've played the PS2 game to death), and there are tons of modes to play with. As with the PS2 and arcade games, you can purchase items and colors to modify and customize your characters' looks using money earned by playing the game. It's no Character Creation Mode, but it'll do for now (at least until Tekken 6 or Soul Calibur III gets ported to the PSP...).
Aside from the obvious, I've noticed the occasional new animation and little tweaks that are pretty cool. Thankfully, the end boss Jinpachi has been toned down, so now he's not as cheap as before (playing this at Hard difficulty)... which is probably to keep casual gamers from throwing their PSPs into orbit. Noticing these little details every now and then just makes this title all the sweeter.

As a fighting game, Tekken DR ranks right up there among the best of the best in the genre, which makes it's portability even more awesome. Now you can actually have streetfights ON THE STREET (well, make sure you're in a nice neighborhood first) or on the beach or on the road. The challenging gameplay, tons of characters to learn and master ensure that I'll be playing this for a long time to come. This is a MUST-HAVE title for any PSP owner and fighting game fan... get it while it's HOT.

Now if you'll excuse me, I have to get back to work unlocking that nurse outfit for Nina...

Black Beauty



Yesterday night, I finally went and got myself a Sony Playstation Portable, or PSP. I've been resisting getting one for months and months, but when a game on this fledgeling platform finally appeared that I really wanted, I guess the decision was made. Once I got the money for the new toy, it was just a matter of deciding where to get it and what version. It's a bit tricky for the PSP since there's a bit of a choice- do I get one with the earlier, infamous 1.5 firmware/OS, which allows for users to use downloaded game ISOs or do I just get one of the normal updated versions for use with normal UMD games.

In the end, I got a regular PSP- I wouldn't be buying games left and right, but I would be choosing the titles I actually get. Of course, I got with my new console the title that finally sold the deal- Tekken: Dark Resurrection, a port of the arcade update to the brilliant PS2 fighter.
Well, what can I say? I got the usual black PSP (instead of the rarer white version prevalent in Japan) which is thankfully free of any dead pixels. The first accessories I got with it were a screen protector (it's not a touch screen but still easily scratchable hence the need for protection), a nice container pouch plus headphones/remote. The device looks DAMN sexy and lovely, I have to admit. It's one gadget which really makes you feel good about buying one, thanks to the nice, quality feel of the thing. It's not a brick, but is of substantial weight... I won't want to be having this on my waist all the time, but it shouldn't be a problem bringing along in any case.
Aside from being a gaming console, the PSP also serves well as a video and music player. Getting videos onto the inserted Memory Stick is pretty easy, and the big PSP screen makes for lovely viewing. So now, I have another portable video player aside from my XDAIIi. Heh.

Last night I was playing Tekken DR again and again. The graphics are lovely... pretty incredible the first time you see it, and still incredible several hours in. It's amazing how Namco was able to squeeze in this game into the PSP. Of course, TDR includes the whole King of Iron Fist Tournament's gang, plus three newcomers- Lili is the deadly dancing daughter of a tycoon fighting to 'free' her father's company from the Mishima Zaibatsu; Dragunov is a creepy undead soldier who uses even scarier Commando Sambo; and finally the returning Armor King is the long-lost master of evil wrestling.
The game is pretty brilliant, and the gameplay is appropriately and perfectly Tekken and the extras are abundant. Finally a true fighting game on the go! Best of all, this should last me for a while... at least, until I get a couple more titles. Fun stuff!

Conjugal Birthday

Today, my parents turn one year older each. It never ceases to amaze me that both my Mom and Dad were born on the same day. Anyway, I took half the day off to spend lunch with them and my sister and her husband. We had steak and spaghetti and paell and had a blast hearing my Mom talk about her days as a nurse while she worked under Dad (who was a doctor then) before they even got married. It was weird hearing that at that time, my Dad had other girlfriends and my Mom never even thought she could ever get hitched with him since the conservative hospital management forbade relationships between nurses and doctors. Well, obviously that didn't stick since I'm here. Hehe.
Anyway, instead of buying them the usual gifts I just gave in to my Mom's suggestion and gave them cash instead. After all these years, it's me who's giving back to my two most important people in the world. Hopefully, I'll have many, many more years to keep on giving to them. Happy birthday, Parents!

Xtreme


The next big thing in fighting games: Butt Boxing.

Right now, my Xbox360 is all about The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. Yeah, it's just total bliss to create your own bad-ass and build him or her up to the deadliest S.O.B. in all of Cyrodiil, explore every corner of the huge continent and strip fallen enemies down to their undies. But even so, I have no doubt in my mind that come late 2006/early 2007, when Dead or Alive Xtreme 2 comes onto the Xbox360, I'll be taking a bit of time off from Tamriel for some fun in the digital sun.

Team Ninja's bouncy sequel to their 'vacation' game is set to be bigger than the first one. DOAX2 this time around will feature not only improved beach volleyball as the main game, but also jet-skiing. The minigames will include a Photography Mode, Waterslides, the returning Pool Hopping game (this time now with two girls in a race), a Race-for-the-Flag beach race, Water Tug-of-War and, get this- Butt Boxing. Butt-boxing or 'The Flotation Device Game' has two DOA girls standing back-to-back on a floating platform, each trying their darndest to bump the other off using well-timed bumps with their behinds. The game will, according to Tomonobu Itagaki, use a similar system to the Rock-Paper-Scissors system used in the actual DOA fighting game, and so will be the closest to a 'fighting minigame' in DOAX2 (cheater...).

Aside from the main games, minigames and the casino activities, DOAX2 will also be featuring the return of the Gravure scenes- the non-interactive cinematics showing the girls in various poses and titillating vignettes. This time around, Team Ninja has invested a LOT of time into these cut scenes, with about 15 unique to each girl and totaling about 170 scenes. The girls however will be able to 'imitate' the scenes of other girls, so if you want to see nice girl Kasumi doing some of Christie's risque poses, you can. There will also be 'Pair Gravure' scenes, which will require you to build up the relationship of the two girls to compose the scene. Also available will be 'RARE' Gravure scenes... whatever that means. Mmmm.

Well anyway, the first DOAX game was solid fun, so having the bikini-clad DOA girls in next-gen splendour sounds pretty swell. Team Ninja hopes to have this game out by the end of 2006... let's see it. There's nothing quite like bikinis on Christmas. Heh.

Dark Knight

The sequel to last year's Batman Begins will be entitled Dark Knight, which is probably a nod to the now-classic Frank Miller graphic novel. Christian Bale will return as Bruce Wayne AKA Batman. This time around, the caped crusader will take on his comics nemesis, The Joker, who will be played by none other than Heath Ledger (A Knight's Tale, Brothers Grimm). Now, the choice for the pivotal villain role may have some people scratching their heads, but he has already proven to be a bit of a chameleon when taking on roles, so who knows, he might just be an excellent Clown Prince of Crime. Look for Dark Night in theaters next year.

Avatar Update

The next chapter in Avatar: The Last Airbender will be another one-hour (2-episode arc) 'movie', entitled The Secret of the Fire Nation". While it's still a ways off, early previews were shown at the recent San Diego Comic Con. One was a 30-second trailer which showed the Aang Gang heading off to the Great City of Ba-Sing-Se, to try and find the missing Appa and tell the Earth Kingdom of their discovery made during the previous Avatar movie, The Fury of Aang. Along the way, the kids seem to have picked up several other refugees, taking them under their wing and protecting them as they make their way to civilization. It is confirmed here in the trailer that Sokka's girlfriend Suki from Kyoshi Island will be apppearing, and perhaps even more familiar faces will return.

The second preview, shown live before an audience, lasts for about 2 minutes and starts with returning character Jet and Uncle Iroh (still voiced by the late, great Mako) at a campfire, talking about their mutual destination in Ba Sing Se. Apparently Jet has decided to atone for his darker ways from before, and seems intent fully on starting anew. Iroh supports hiim, saying that he believes in second chances- perhaps alluding to his and Zuko's own tragic pasts.
The preview then cuts to Aang and his party as they come to a what appears to be a large lake or river leading other refugees to Ba Sing Se. Katara tells the group to walk single file and then PARTS THE WATER (elicitng tremendous applause from the enthusiastic Avatar fans). As the water gets deeper, the party must 'cocoon' themselves in an air pocket as they walk under the sea. After some comedic antics from Momo, the troop is attacked by some beast which tries to break into the cocoon. The gang is saved by Toph, who earthbends the entire kit and caboodle on a small island above the water (another explosion of applause). The attacking creature is then revealed to be a gigantic sea serpent, which menacingly rears above the heroes...

And that's it! We'll all have to wait another month and a half for the full show. Still, this was pretty awesome and I just can't wait to get my Avatar fix again this September. To see the Avatar: Secret of the Fire Nation promos, just go to Youtube and search for "Secret of the Fire Nation".

MAKO



Mako Iwamatsu, or just Mako for short, passed away last Friday at the age of 72 from esophageal cancer. He's been around ever since I could remember, appearing in many films... though mostly I will probably remember him as Akiro the Wizard from Arnold Schwarzenegger's Conan movies. Mako will be also be remembered mostly for his gravelly voice, heard a lot in animation series like Dexter's Laboratory (Narrator), Samurai Jack (where he played the villain Aku) and more recently, Avatar: The Last Airbender (as the wise Uncle Iroh). Mako's been around forever, so it really is a shame that his voice is now gone. But thankfully, his voice will be heard yet in the remaining 2nd Season episodes of Avatar and in next year's new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie (where he plays the role of Splinter).

Most assuredly, such a distinct voice can be imitated or emulated, but just knowing the man behind the character is gone leaves a mark on you. Rest in peace, Mako-san.

Living in Oblivion



It's been a while since my last post, since I was away on a trip. A trip to a far-away land called Cyrodiil. It's a beautiful place with lush forests, rolling hills, wonderful meadows, cloud-cloaked mountains and flowing rivers. It's paradise... well, that is, until you get waylaid by some half-lion/half-humanoid highwayman or get attacked by a pack of starving wolves. It's in these cases that martial arts training, swordplay, spellcasting and good ol' sneaking skillz come in handy. Oh, and there's the disturbing amount of fire-wreathed GATES TO HELL starting to pop up all over the place, spewing murderous demons. Aside from those little nitpicks though... paradise.

Don't worry, I've not lost touch with reality yet. And no, I haven't gotten roped into playing RagnaCrack Online. The schtick I'm into right now is the MMORPG (Massive, Magnificent Offline Role-playing Game) Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion on the Xbox360, and I couldn't be happier with some of the best action/RPG gaming I've had in YEARS.

Bethesda Software's sequel to their previous hit Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind (available on PC and the original Xbox) improves pretty much everything, from the combat to the graphics to the depth and richness of the story and world. In a nutshell, Oblivion is an open-ended single player RPG... a virtual fantasy realm sandbox where you are the center of the universe, where everything hinges on your actions and you create your own epic.

Everyone Has A Story
Of course, there is a main plot to all of the precedings. The title 'Oblivion' refers to Cyrodiil's version of Hell- a burning dimension filled with creatures that wouln't look out of place in Doom. Well, Oblivion has so far been kept at bay from the normal world by magical barriers- barriers held by the blood of Cyrodiil's Imperial family. But now, something is working to take out that obstacle, and as a result bad things are starting to happen. Your hero/heroine is cast as a hapless prisoner in the Imperial Prison who just happens to be sitting in the cell where a secret escape passage is located. One night, the Emperor himself, accompanied by his loyal bodyguards, The Blades, come through to escape some mysterious threat. You follow, of course. Soon the Emperor (voiced by Patrick Stewart) is no more, but he leaves behind for you a quest to save the realms and 'seal shut the doors of Oblivion'. And so, like the hero of destiny that you are, you readily take up the mantle of saviour of the realms.

Or not. Since the 'Main Quest' of saving Cyrodiil is really just a small part of the game. Apparently, according to the developers, the Oblivion storyline and all it's quests- which supposedly contain up to 60 hours of gameplay- comprises just TEN PERCENT of the overall game. WHOA! So if you just spend the whole time just flying through the main quest, you'll be missing most of the fun the game has to offer.

Aside from saving the world, there are tons of things to do. On your own as a masterless adventurer you could choose to explore the vast world, encountering whatever dangers cross your path, finding hidden dungeons, ruins, caves, mines and other dark places full of loot, enemies and magic. Or, you could join one or more of the several factions in the game. Become a sword for justice in the Fighters Guild. Engage in mystical intrigue in the Mage Guild. Ransack the riches of the land as part of the Thieves Guild. Walk the disturbingly dark and murderous path of the Dark Brotherhood. Engage in mortal combat for the cheers of the audience in the Imperial Arena. You can rise from a lowly apprentice to the highest levels of power in each of these many factions, through epic quests that are as rich and rewarding as the main storyline itself. And even then, at the top, you can go on and continue for other goals. That's a lot of stuff to do.

Of course, all the depth, richness of setting and epic storylines don't mean shit if the gameplay isn't up to par (take the previous Elder Scrolls game). Thankfully, Oblivion's combat (which you will inevitably do a lot of) is fun and challenging. Instead of the dull slap matches from Morrowind, characters now lung, parry and attack with more animations as well as both visible and spoken reactions to attacks. Heavy hits will stagger opponents, enemies will taunt and berate you as they score hits. You can fight back with a variety of melee weapons or attack spells, and seeing enemies slump down lifeless thanks to the new rag-doll physics engine makes every kill satisfying. There's nothing more viscerally stress-relieving than taking out an evil enemy, stripping their corpses of all their valuables (and clothing) and then depositing their remains into a nearby ditch. Heheh...
Controlling your character is easy and intuitive, though the Xbox360 controller does present some kinks- it's hard to use the 'Hotkey' function fully thanks to the imprecision of the right joystick, and it's all too easy to put your character into 'sneak' mode (which is done by pressing down on the left joystick) during heated combat, which makes you slower and less maneuverable. Also, battles with multiple characters, including allies and good NPCs, becomes chaotic since it's very difficult for you tell if you're going to hit an enemy or a friend. Of course, it's more realistic to have combat where you can run and maneuver instead of just statically standing around hitting each other in turn... it just takes quite a bit of practice to master the timing of blocks with strikes, but you do get the hang of it. Once you do though, combat is fun and you'll be looking for foes to take on soon enough.

As for magic, there are many schools of magic spells you can master, with an arsenal of magic to throw at foes. You can even create your own spells with the right skills and equipment. Alchemy lets you create your own potions from a sundry of ingredients and reagents you can find all over the land, while Enchanting lets you make the magical weapon of your dreams (and enemies' nightmares).
Stealth is also handled quite excellently- almost Metal Gear-like excellence, and it makes stealth-based characters like thieves and assassins quite fun to use. It's great to take out enemies with single, precised hits (though often it's hard to kill enemies in just one blow) after you've snuck up behind them. Solid Snake would be proud.

Creating and customizing is a large part of Oblivion. As you begin a new game, you create your own hero/heroine by selecting race (from stock humans to several different nations of elves to orcs and reptilian Argonians), gender and sign (which governs what special powers you can get). You can customize your character's mug from hair color to face shape to eye color and nose bridge-width... it's neat, though you have to take care to keep your character from looking ugly. As for character classes, it's all customizable too. While a dullard can go with straight-on Fighters or Mages, you can choose pre-set template occupations like Nightblades and Battlemages, or Agents and Witchhunters. Or you can create your own class, selecting skills, specializations and naming the job as you please. Yes, now you can have your magic-using, sword-swinging fast-talking Orcish Headhunter of your dreams.

So far, my first character, a female Dark Elf Soul Walker (a stealthy mage-warrior) has gone on a couple of cool little quests, exterminated a couple of bandit gangs, found and joined the legendary Thieves Guild, become an associate of the Mage Guild and loves travelling on foot across the country and taking long swims in lakes (Hehe). She's got her eyes set on becoming the Mage Guild Archmage and is contemplating how to become a member of the mysterious Dark Brotherhood. She's a good girl with a naughty streak, ready to keep one foot in the light while another in the shadow. My kind of girl.

She probably won't be my last... Oblivion just screams replay value, so you can try any other race or class, try the many quests with different approaches or just to try and do things that you didn't before. Darn, you could probably play this game for months and months and still not fully uncover everything.

So I'm hooked. And totally loving every moment of it. See you all in Cyrodiil!

Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion is now available on Xbox360 and PC.

Change

Last night, an epiphany hit me as I sat down in The Sanctum and glanced at the corner of the room where I had my piles of anime VCDs.

It's been ages... perhaps even months... since I have just sat down and watched anime on the TV. My pace of living has changed so much that I don't seem to have the time, or even just the patience to just sit down and watch. These days, I just get my anime or even movies digitally from online, encode them in DIVX or XVID and load them into my mobile phone for viewing when the bug hits me. Seriously.

And so, I got up and started grabbing my VCDs, taking them out of their cases (which I can now reuse or sell at my leisure) and putting the lot into plastic bags for storing or disposing. It's kind of a waste, probably- I easily have dozens an dozens of VCDs (irritatingly enough, I have multiple copies of several titles)- but I guess it's good as well that from now on, I won't be buying anime from local dealers (who basically get them from online as well anyway). It's an end of an era, but something I am glad to be free of. No more dealing with irritating, anime-incompetent counter monkeys, and unresponsive geeky or smarmy anime shop owners. No more trudging all the way to an anime shop just to be told the title you're looking for is OUT OF STOCK.

Thanks be to Bittorrent, I can now get my anime and movies directly to my PC, and I couldn't be any happier.

In any case, I'll still retain my DVD collection and probably will buy the odd DVD, mainly for the rest of the household's viewing. I also will probably buy the occasional DVD from a dealer that sells anime in large quantities as DIVX files (which saves me on download times).

It's a weird feeling. Maybe I felt it before, when I got rid of the trusty Betamax and finally embraced VHS years and years ago. Gosh, who knows where technology will bring our entertainment in another decade or so. Direct-to-brain transfers? Wild, man. Simply Wild.

Perfect Killing Machine



I've decided that the next comic I'll be producing in the very near future will be another K.I.A. issue. Yeah, I know I said that The Last Angel Ace Story would be it, but I am not going to rush that one. I intend to have something ready for this year's KOMIKON, and realistically Angel Ace won't make it, given the time that remains.
In line with how the first K.I.A. book had a bit of a concept (anthology type with various creators/writers/artists), this one will have one as well. I'll be pitching the idea soon to the local comics gang and we'll see where this one goes.

On other things, I look to be quite busy in comics for the next few weeks. Project Kris is half done for me, so I'll hopefully be reaping rewards from that. Project HERO 2 is almost at hand, and this early I've already worked out the general storyline for my piece, which is another Samurai Sis story. The trick will be doing the art for another story that will be written by another creator.
Another comics project, where I will collaborate with Vin Simbulan, looks to start soon as well. The deadline's tight but I'm quite interested in the subject and title, so I'll probably jump into that.

Considering that I haven't really done any comics work for several months, this is probably pretty adventurous of me, but what the heck- in comics, I seem to work best under pressure so why not? Time to get back into the gutter again. Heh.

Return to Midgar


Happy Valentine's Day.

If you're a fan of the Final Fantasy VII game, you'll surely have watched FFVII Advent Children by now (if now, what are you waiting for? The english flub, er dub? It's OUT, by the way). Well, the other titles in the 'Compilation of FFVII' series that Advent Children is a part of are starting to come out. Dirge of Cerberus is the second title (the last one is Before Crisis) and, on a wild, out-of-left field direction, isn't an RPG but a SHOOTER. Well, a shooter with RPG elements, and a whole lot of CG cinematics. In fact, the game (which has been out in Japan for quite a while) has received quite a bit of flack from reviews. The gameplay, it seems, isn't up to par... really, the most this game has to offer are the lavish CG FMV's that Square of Japan has come to be known for. Still, if you're an FFVII fan, you'll probably want to check out the game simply for the story and the cinematics, simply because DOC gives fans once again a look into the lives of their beloved characters in the fantasy world of Midgar.

Dirge of Cerberus takes place a year after the events in FFVII Advent Children (which in turn happens about two years after the end of the FFVII game story). The main focus of the tale this time isn't emo-boy Cloud Strife, but UBER-emo boy Vincent Valentine- former Turk (Shinra special agent) and current shapechanging supermutant. All seems well in the world as the WRO or World Restoration Organization is working to bring the planet back to track without the use of destructive Mako energy that Shinra used in the past. One day though, the peace is broken when a new, mysterious enemy attacks the town of Kalm. These invaders are the Deep Ground Soldiers, a special corps of enhanced warriors created by Shinra during the war but buried underground when the Meteor came to the planet. Now released into a world unprepared for their attack, the DGS seek to reawaken powerful forces in their bid for conquest. And their key to their victory is one Vincent Valentine. Now our red-cloaked hero must take up his trusty three-barrelled pistol and take on the enemy, lay to rest ghosts from his past and save the world from destruction once again.

While Vincent is the main and apparently only playable character, ninja cutie Yuffie Kisaragi plays a vital role in the story, often helping out Vincent and appearing in the many cinematics. Also playing a big role is Reeve/Cait Sith, in one scene apparently being gunned down by enemy soldiers. Ouch! Anyway, all of the FFVII heroes (save perhaps Aerith) eventually show up as the big throwdown for Midgar gets underway towards the game's climax. Thanks the Square's CG mastery, the pre-rendered cinematics are pretty much the same quality as in Advent Children, with the same character models being used. This makes DOC pretty much a sequel to Advent Children and well worth seeing for fans of the world and it's characters. I've seen the cinemas and some of the big battle scenes bring to mind the large-scale battles from the Star Wars Clone Wars movies... that's a good thing, actually.

As for the gameplay... well, awkward gameplay concerns just melt in the face of Yuffie Kisaragi's CG cuteness. Yes. Hehe.

The english version of Dirge of Cerberus is slated for an August 2006 release on the PS2. FFVII fans wanting one more adventure with their beloved FFVII heroes should keep their eyes peeled for this one.

Memory

My sister and her family came to visit over the weekend, and her husband brought along his new phone, my old XDA II Mini. I couldn't resist looking at it again... and found myself amazed at how small it felt in my hand, which was by now used to hefting the larger XDA IIi. I was enamoured in the colors of the screen, which was smaller but a more colorful than larger Pocket PCs. I tested it a few times and smiled at the snappiness of the response.

Darn, I miss it. I turned it over and noted with a wince several new scratches on the silver casing. I owned it for a year and never put a scratch on it. Sigh.

I put it back and said goodbye once more. There will be other mobiles, smaller or bigger, in the years to come. But I'll always remember that one.

The Empire Strikes Back (in the Caribbean)


Jack's back.

I have to admit that while I was initially excited back when I first saw the trailer for Pirates of the Caribbean: The Secret of the Black Pearl. But when I watched the actual movie, I found it a bit unnecessarily long, with quite a lot of iffy parts. But while it was uneven for me, I did find the character of Jack Sparrow... no, CAPTAIN Jack Sparrow, as one of the more interesting screen protagonists to come in a long time. Part scoundrel, part dirty rat, part reluctant hero, the flighty buccaneer is given more life than he originally was envisioned to thanks to offbeat cinema heartthrob Johnny Depp. And so, when the sequel was announced I was willing to give it a try. In any case, the trailer and the subsequent features and videos online and on cable convinced me that Dead Man's Chest just might be something special.

Bringing together almost every cast member and character from the original, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest is a spectacular, wild ride. Well, at least it is after the first few minutes of setting up and reintroducing the characters. But once the players are assembled, it's a merry free-for-all of swashbucklers, sea monsters, sailing ships and... well, PIRATES. It gets a bit muddled as we go through... not horrible, mind you, but muddled in a Simpsons' episode sort of way. We all know the general direction- Both Jack Sparrow and the sinister East India Trading Company are after the Dead Man's Chest- which contains an object that just might it's possessor absolute power over the seas. Everyone else- from Sparrow's crew to the returning heroes Will Turner (Orlando Bloom) and Elizabeth Swann (Keira Knightley) is running in the same general direction, but with varying goals. It's a mess of double-dealings, betrayals, backstabbings and more of Jack Sparrow's prancing. But at least it's a fun mess which looks absolutely spectacular thanks to great casting, incredible settings, art direction and special effects.

A lion's share of the eye candy this time around belongs to the character of Davy Jones- the mythical old man of the sea and sailor's bane, given tentacled life by the effects wizards of ILM and actor Bill Nighy. Nighy's performance- on a par with Depp's Sparrow and Geoffrey Rush's Barbossa from the first movie- pays off with a living, breathing and malevolently fascinating villain. Jones' crew- a gang of barnacle-encrusted marine-monster brutes, are so ugly and creepy they're beautiful... it's hard to see where CG ends and real makeup or costumes begin.

Performances-wise, Dead Man's Chest lets Depp once again run wild as Captain Jack Sparrow, though this time letting more physical comedy and slapstick bag the laugh instead of clever banter (though he does have several fine lines). Sparrow is more scoundrel in this one, but the ending will lay to rest any doubts about his true character.
Bloom and Knightley are given more to do in this one, and thankfully grow more as characters (Knightley's Elizabeth more so than Turner), while returning cast members like a now-bedraggled and bitter former Commodore Norrington (Jack Davenport) get more screen time and importance. New to the franchise is the much-mentioned but now finally realized "Bootstrap" Bill Turner (Stellan Skaarsgard), Will's father and now-captive crewman on the Flying Dutchman.
As mentioned, Bill Nighy steals the show as Davy Jones, while new villain Cutler Beckett (Tom Hollander) is as smarmy as you can get. Returning cast members like Jonathan Pryce (Elizabeth's father, Weatherby Swann), Kevin McNally (Jack's loyal first mate, Gibb), Lee Arenberg (Pintel) and MacKenzie Crook (Ragetti) give the Caribbean universe continuity. Also of note is Naomie Harris as voodoo priestess Tia Dalma, who is probably gosh-darned beautiful since she's dreadlocked and dirty with black teeth but still looks strangely fetching.

Dead Man's Chest gives both laughs and thrills with some quite outrageous stunts and action sequences, like perhaps the longest and most complex three-man swordfight in movies, and several spectacular appearances by the massive tentacled horror known as The Kraken... a monster that would make the Watcher in the Water from the Lord of the Rings movies shudder. The cast and crew are obviously having fun, and it's pretty infectious.

The worst thing about this movie becomes clear during the last third of the film- when it becomes clear that Dead Man's Chest is simply a buildup for the next movie (called by some Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End). The film ends with HUGE Cliffhanger moments which will have you rabidly foaming at the mouth for the next movie. Unfortunately, we all have to wait a YEAR (POTC3 is slated for next summer) to see the next adventures of Jack, Elizabeth, Will and the rest of the crew.

BUGGER.

Still, POTC:DMC is a rip-roaringly fun ride and watching this is absolutely necessary in any case. The best thing I can say is that at about 2 and a half hours, Dead Man's Chest moves fast and pays off with great action (Unlike a certain recent Superhero film)... easily a better film than the first movie, and well worth your money and time.

Oh, and about that scene after the credits- it's just a very short comedic scene which has NOTHING to do with the main story, so stay at your own peril... it's probably not worth sitting around ten minutes for.

Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest is now showing in Manila Theaters. Watch it, now!

Click

It's kinda funny that once-technophobe Dean is now a bonafide technojunkie. He just bought himself a new O2 XDA II Mini after his old XDA II suddenly conked out on him yesterday. Whether it was just a dead battery or some other more serious fault, I don't know... but it's all moot now since Dean up and got himself a new device to replace the failed unit... of course, without his trusty (and by now invaluable) PDA, he felt naked and insecure.

I have to admit that I myself am incredibly attached and reliant on my Pocket PC Phone. It's my communicator, allowing me to instantly reach my home, family and friends, and keep me attached and updated at work. Text, Voice calls, Internet, e-mail... it keeps me in touch. It's my entertainment center... my portable music jukebox, personal movie theater and video library and on-the-go gaming arcade. It's my life organizer, reminding me of events, appointments, friends' or family members' birthdays and wakes me up every morning for work.

Our cellphones have grown far more than being devices that allow us to communicate. They give us control. It basically is my controller of life- how we can, with simple presses of buttons, affect our lives or change paths with a press of a button. Kinda like that new Adam Sandler movie, Click, on a personal level. It's an illusion of control but it's control nonetheless. That's how important the phone has become.

And so, if indeed my phone conked out one night (God forbid, I just got it), or I lost it (NEVER!!!) or it got stolen (OVER MY DEAD..), I would probably not be at ease until I get my satisfying, not-downgraded replacement. Thus I totally identify with Dean. Anyway, maybe it's poetic that both of us got new mobiles recently, no matter what the reason (whether it be to upgrade or replace). Or maybe it's just the way things work.

Always TWO. A Master. And an Apprentice. Hehehe.

Through Hell and High Water

I woke up today looking at the dimness of the glow coming from the blind-covered windows. It was only when I checked my phone did I realize it was almost 9AM that I shot up in bed and threw open the blinds. Thanks to the storm outside, it looked like it was only about 6AM. Despite all the temptation to just crawl back into bed and just wish it were all a bad dream, I made ready to go to The Salt Mines.
Today's commute was more difficult than most, given that the MRT chose this day to apparently close down for some reason. As I was unwilling to try the obviously traffic-choked route to Cubao, I stood my ground and waited for a cab. Unfortunately, oodles of other commuters were competing for the taxis' attentions. I have to say, sexism be damned- women are EVIL when it comes to commuting. They will run in front of you, wave frantically at every cab, making it pretty clear they will get it before YOU. Finally, when every single female had gotten a cab (how come they all seem to get a ride on their first try??), some bastard guy tries to get in front of me too. BAH. It's enough to make you go homicidal. It's all compounded by the fact that I need to keep my umbrella up because of the pelting rain (too big drops to ignore) but am constantly fighting with strong gusts of wind that threaten to tear the umbrella apart. AARGGGHHH.

Anyway, it took me about four tries.

Me: Makati?
Cabbie: Baha doon! (It's flooded there!)
Me: No, it's not!
Cabbie: BAHA DOON!
VROOooom...

Me: Makati?
Cabbie: I'm only to Marikina.
Me: (Slamming Door) Mag-jeepney ka na lang!!! (Be a Jeepney instead!!!)
VROOOooomm...

Me: Makati?
Old Cabbie: No.
Me: (Slamming Door) TANDAAAA!!! (OLD FART!!!)
VROOOooommm...

When finally a supposedly always-reliable R & E taxi denied me also, I decided enough was enough. But as I was starting to walk home, another taxi came along and I made a try. Lo and behold, the cabbie agreed and we were off. Despite some heavy traffic, the trip was pretty smooth and quick. I was so glad to arrive that I paid the guy a big extra on the fare, and I was set.
Well, work goes on. Got stuff to do, some meetings to attend. Hopefully the trip home will be easier (I'll probably leave a bit late) and less stressful. Ah, the things you do for a living. Sigh.

Avatar Fix

I'm pretty excited for the coming weekend, since it'll be the premiere of the first Avatar: The Last Airbender movie. Entitled The Fury of Aang, this is actually two episodes to be shown back-to-back. As the story goes, Aang the Avatar travels with his party across a supposedly impenetrable desert in the vast Earth Kingdom. Their quarry- a secret library of hidden secrets that just may hold vast knowledge needed to defeat the evil Fire Nation. While trying to survive in the inhospitable wilderness, something happens that causes Aang to become frighteningly enraged, unleashing his awesome powers. Meanwhile, the exiled Prince Zuko and his Uncle Iroh search for the aid of a secret society.

I'm really hoping this new 'movie' is awesome; but considering how Avatar has been pretty awesome in pretty much every episode, this is probably a given. Well, I'm going to have to enjoy this one, since the next Avatar fix will be quite a ways off... in September. Sigh. Oh well.
Of course I am talking about Avatar on the net and in the wide world. Sadly, viewers here in Manila STILL are stuck in the measly weekend showings of replays of episodes from Season 1. CATCH UP, Local Nick! Avatar's the hottest show on your channel and you're flubbing it! I have bittorrent and the web to thank for my Avatar fix, since I have yet to find a local anime shop who stocks the show. Oh well. If you can get your Avatar, do so people. This series is a keeper.

BTW, Avatar has already been picked up for a 3rd Season. The third and supposedly last (as yet) 20-episode arc will be entitled the Book of Fire, and chronicle Aang's final confrontation with his ultimate enemy- the Fire Lord Ozai himself. Can Aang and his friends and allies defeat the powerful, ruthless Fire Nation in time? How will the Legend of Aang end? We'll just have to wait and see in the next couple of years, I guess.

Upgrade Complete


My new constant companion.

In the spirit of the Re-quel (like the recent Superman Returns), I upgraded from my longtime mobile PDA phone, an O2 XDA II Mini to the bigger and quite a bit more powerful O2 XDA IIi. It looks almost exactly like my first PDA Phone, an XDA II (I can tell the difference by looking and finding a little 'i' next to the 'XDA II' name on front). Most of the changes are internal, and not at all superficial.

Anyway, for a while my sister had been asking if I was interested in selling my Mini to them- they wanted to use the multimedia functions of the device as a portable and unobtrusive way of presenting sales pitches/videos for their business... I guess it's hard to lug a laptop everywhere and a bit awkward to just whip out. Towards the end of the week I gave my willingness to sell, gave a price and today I sold it off.

Yeah, it's a bit sad to bid goodbye to the PDA phone that has served me, and served me WELL for almost a year- perhaps the longest I've had a phone. Truth be told, I was quite satisfied with the Mini, from the convenient compactness to the various apps and functions it served me day to day, and the hours of time-killing pleasure it gave me from videos and movies to games and music. The only flaw was, pretty much, a smaller screen (perhaps the limit of good portable video viewing). I still totally stand by the Mini as one of the best devices from O2 and it's prodigious multi-usability... so it's kinda sad knowing it's going to be used for mainly demoing some fruit juice videos. Oh well, in any case I hope it earns it's price for them.

Anyway, with the money for the sale and some extra cash I had lying around The Sanctum, I was free to get a new mobile. I know I mentioned the Samsung i310 smartphone (which came with an 8 Gigabyte Hard Disk), but I eventually realized that all that storage space was useless since the videos would look perhaps half the size of the videos on my former Mini... and that was just too much. I went to Greenhills and looked over the many models and phones available.

Benq P50... interesting form factor, with proportions kinda like one of those old brick games. It has a nice screen (kinda like the Mini) and a full QWERTY keyboard. It used SD/MMC cards and had WiFi. However, the processor was the same as the Mini (416 Mhz) so I got turned off. There are quite a few of these though around, and they look kinda cool. Like grey-black Treos.

Nokia N91... again the Finnish 4-Gig wonder beckons. Again, the tiny screen and the fact that this is a Symbian phone made mainly for music repels me.

Sony Ericsson W900... again, a Symbian OS phone, and the swivel-form factor just screams inconvenient. Plus it looks kinda like a toy. Not the kind I need.

Nokia E61... a Blackberry/Treo-like offering from Nokia, this is strictly a business phone since there isn't even a camera on it. 3G and WiFi are in though, and the screen's pretty big. It would be kind of ironic for me to buy the model that was competing with my Mini for my sister's money. Pass.

Hewlett Packard rw 6828... this is a new PDA phone from HP, which kinda looks like the Mini- same size and form factor. The onboard WiFi and FM radio seemed attractive, but I felt it was underpowered for my needs and it used mini-SD cards.

O2 Atom... I decided that I really didn't like the plasticky, toyish-looking Atom. The 2-megapixel camera with flash and the other perks can't mask the downgrade in power and memory (Mini-SD), and the smaller (slightly) screen.

What beckoned to me then was an XDAIIi being displayed in one stand, which I first saw last week and was still there this week, as if waiting for me. The price was very attractive (big savings from the brand new price of 45K and upwards in most shops) and the device was in pretty pristine condition, and complete box and accessories. After a slight bit of wandering around (who knows, I might have seen something else), I plunked down the cash, set stuff moving and now I had a brand new toy.

Thankfully, after coming home and reinstalling ActiveSync, it only took a few seconds to restore all my Contacts and Notes, Information and Data to my new phone- pretty painless and cool. After installing my Games, Themes and Apps, everything was good to go. So what did I get with my XDAIIi upgrade? Well, the processor is faster- 520 MHz compared to the 416 MHz of the Mini. The onboard RAM and ROM memory is double that of the Mini as well. The IIi's screen is a mammoth 3.5 inches compared to the 2.8 inches of the Mini. While the IIi's camera is also 1.3 Megapixels, it seems to have a better sensor than the Mini, with less if any snow even in low light. That's a good thing. Then there's the nice little new extra that the IIi has WiFi, so now I can actually surf wirelessly in Hotspots without resorting to pricey GPRS. No 3G, but who really needs it? Not me, not now at least.

There are lots of tiny little perks I am discovering... like how the onscreen keypad is better than before (FINALLY a CAPS lock) and there are more detailed stuff to help tweak my mobile. For the most part, it's cool to finally have something new again after all this time.
I guess it's just another way of showing that if you get complacent and content too much, change is needed to freshen things out. Every now and then you should take steps to just make things fun again.

Next project: A PSP loaded with the new Tekken: Dark Resurrection. Hehe.

Neo Comics

There are once again new kids on the local comics block, in this case literally. According to the editor's note for the debut issues of Neo Comics (of which there are two- an Epics issue and a Tales issue), many of the artists and creators working on these manga-style local releases are in their teens (and apparently are named with otaku-style code names like AKIRA and 730N). Well, it shows given the quality of the art, which sadly is not a positive. Most of the art and stories try to emulate popular Japanese stuff, featuring generic characters which look like they were ripped directly from some manga, anime or game. While in full color and on glossy papers, the color quality is also washed out- it seems that some of the art was hand-colored in some medium which doesn't translate well to printing. As for the writing and stories, I haven't read them yet so I'll reserve comments on that later (see the Comments for additional stuff).

Yeah, being a maker of manga-esque comics myself, I am probably the LAST person on earth to say 'don't use Japanese manga style', but please... DON'T grab designs from the latest Japanese manga or anime/games and please DO try to put something new and fresh into your story or concept at least. It's your chance to shine, so shine through your own creativity, not as just another wannabee.

Not sure who is releasing Neo Comics- the group calls itself Juggernaut Studios but they have ads and are in full color, plus distribution, so this isn't just a small studio. Some publisher got together some young artists for cheap and are trying out their stuff, which is good in that these young artists get to see their stuff on shelves. However, the art quality and the Japanese manga cliches repel me. If this is like Psicom's stuff though, this will be lucky to reach issue 2 and beyond. we'll just have to see.

Anyway, Neo Comics Epics and Neo Comics Fables are now out in magazine stands and bookstores for P85. Check out the latest Pinoy manga to come along.

Typo



I spotted this funny mistake in Gateway Mall, and I just had to snap a pic. Remember, boys and girls, spelling is everything. Heh.

Hitback: The Streetfighter II Animated Movie Retro-Ramble Review


Uncut, Uncensored, Unleashed.

Waaaaay back in 1994, the Street Fighter franchise was at an all-time high in terms of popularity. It became so popular that not one but two movies based on the games were released. One was the US-produced live-action movie starring Jean-Claude Van Damme et al; probably one of the most reviled videogame-to-movie translations known in the history of man (though I admit to having cheered the first time I saw it).

Yes, that has the version that marred the late actor Raul Julia's memory, it being his last film before succumbing to an illness. In another reality, instead of the Addams Family excerpt, the last image of Julia to the world is his goggle-eyed General M. Bison shouting "GAME... OVER!" Ew. It was the live-action movie that insisted on rationalizing every single appearing character (all 16+ of them), giving them all last names and ridiculously detailed background stories, even butchering the origins of others (Blanka and eventual SF Alpha character Charlie are merged into one mutated mess), and still others are neutered beyond belief (Dhalsim turns into a wimpy scientist who only gets his trademark looks after getting BURNED). But of course, it also commits the cardinal sin of putting the mantel of main hero on the American fighter Guile (ironically played by someone known as 'The Muscles from Brussels').

But of course, the real Street Fighter movie is the Animated Movie produced in Japan. Known as Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie, this is simply the most faithful and accurate depiction of a videogame franchise to a movie. The art was gorgeous and true to the games, and the fight scenes were fluid, incredibly well-animated and intense to the extreme.
And there were a lot of them (contrary to the live-action version) too. Included of course is the infamous Chun Li versus Vega fight- a knockdown, drag-out duel between the masked Spanish Ninja and the spunky Interpol agent who spends the whole fight wearing little more than her bra and panties- yep, before Agent Aika flashed underwear in anime, there was Street Fighter. Fan service aside though, this action sequence, along with the two-on-one final battle between the Shotokan Brothers and the Master of Evil Psycho Power, M. Bison are some of the best fight scenes you'll ever see in anime.


If only Chun Li's undies were a selectable costume in the games...

To be fair, the SF Animated Movie is not perfect- the story, of course, is a videogame story... Evil organization uses the world's best fighters as assassins in their service. The movie is also long... overly long, with lots of lulls and lingering pans of scenery (or Ryu meditating) that you would probably want to skip or fast-forward over to get to the good stuff. Sexy commando pixie Cammy is hyped about to no end in the movie's posters and art, but in truth only appears for a few seconds at the start of the film (although she does make an impression). Lots of characters are just glossed over, and the movie's ending... a weird bit with Ryu, M.Bison and a Mack Truck(!)... just leaves you with a WTF feeling.

Still, the movie is about as close to a true translation of a great videogame into a movie/anime format as you can get... something that other franchises have failed in. Remember the vomit-inducing Tekken anime? Even the relatively well-done Mortal Kombat movie (the first one) had to make quite a few changes and is still less than a perfect translation.

Anyway, if you were too young to see the original SFII Animated Movie, the film has been re-released in the US in an "Uncut, Uncensored and Unleashed" version which gives the whole kit and kaboodle... which means that you can see Chun Li's boobs and butt (which were censored from previous releases) in her infamous shower scene. Plus, some fighting scenes have a bit more blood and violence to kick up the action a notch. You also get a choice of the dramatic, ballad-heavy Japanese soundtrack or the obnoxious and ear-grinding heavy metal cacophony in the US dub. If it isn't obvious, I prefer the Japanese music, which I believe has at least emotion and gravitas, while the crappy US music is just LOUD. As far as voices go, the US dubbing is also pretty iffy, so go with the US subtitled version.

Copies of the SF Anime Movie are available in local anime shops. Or you can go for the recent US release through Amazon or other online shops, or with nice US-based relatives. Or you can download the kit from Bittorrent (hehe). In any case, if you're a videogame fan, you gotta have this in your library (if you're an SF fan, you probably already have it). Chances are, they'll be showing the Live-Action movie on cable, but never the anime. Ick.

Ah, the Street Fighter II Animated Movie. Still pretty awesome after all these years. Seeing Chun Li grind her foot into Vega's face never gets old. Good times. Heh.

Lost in Oblivion

My latest, and apparently greatest, acquisition for my Xbox360 library is the much talked-about first person RPG, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (or just Oblivion for short). Set in the same world as the previous Xbox's Elder Scrolls III, this title thankfully improves on pretty much everything in the previous game. You needn't have played in Morrowind before to appreciate Oblivion- this is a self-contained game, or world, that is all-new and just waiting to be discovered.

Set in a land called Tamriel, Oblivion puts you in the boots of a prisoner- a hapless soul who was put in the imperial prison for no apparent reason. One day, as you are wasting away in the dungeon, a peculiar sight greets your eyes. Several heavily-armed and armored soldiers enter your cell, escorting a regal old man. It turns out that there's a secret passage right in your cell leading to the outside... and the old man is the Emperor. Apparently, the ruler's life is in danger so he's being spirited away by his Blades, or elite knights. Naturally, you follow the Emperor's party and soon orient yourself with stuff like combat, stealth, exploration, magic and item use. By the end of the introductory dungeon, the Emperor is dead and you've been charged with a quest to somehow save the realm by closing the 'Gates of Oblivion'.

What is that quest all about? Why were you chosen? What will it take to save the world?

I have no frickin' idea.

For starters, when I got out of the dungeon and breathed the sweet air of freedom, the first thing I thought was to go exploring the vast, lovely city nearby. Soon, I was collecting items (some by judicious pilfering), talking to people or listening to gossip, and carrying out a quest for some local merchants in what amounts to a lot of stakeouts and shadowing people. My current interest is earning money by engaging in mortal combat in the city arena, slowly building up my skills in gladiatorial combat while I fatten my purse. Oh, and some hooded weirdo likes my penchant for making people dead so I've been invited to some assassin guild. Ooh. Somehow I'll get to the main quest and try to save the world. Someday.

Oblivion is a huge game, open-ended and expansive with tons of stuff to explore and discover. It doesn't hurt that the game looks gorgeous; the graphics are downright mystifying to see... you can just stare at the beautiful countryside for hours... providing there aren't any rabid monsters chasing you down at the moment. You get the create your own character, right down to facial details like nose width and eyebrow angle (so conceivably you can make them look like anyone you want)... the only problem is that it's a bit hard to get them looking good. Hmm. You can also make your character into a large variety of classes and occupations with varied skills in both magic and combat, from fire-hurling battlemages to stealthy nightblades or relentless hunters and intrepid agents. As you use skills, you get stronger and better.

Combat is also cooler this time around, handled in real time and depending on your agility to maneuver around opponents and waiting for the right times to strike or parry. OR, you can try to master deadly spells and fry enemies from afar. It's not perfect, but it's darn more fun than in the previous game. The realistic rag-doll physics engine also makes fights more realistic than ever.

The quest is also more focused. While the earlier game threw you into the world with no clue, here the interface is a lot more user-friendly. If you want to get to the main quest right away, you'll be aided by a helpful mapping and journal feature, plus a handy compass which basically points you where to go next. Also, once you've been to a place, you can basically 'teleport' there using the map, so you don't have to walk or make a long trek everytime. Genius!

As with RPGs of this type, the main fun is in finding your way and discovering stuff on your own. You can be a glorious, honorable hero and citizen of the realm, or a fearsome villain. The gorgeous fantasy world around you is literally alive with sights, sounds and characters who go about their lives. It's up to you to choose how your path affects theirs.
HIGHLY recommended. If you have an Xbox360, this is THE one game that is indeed a must-have.

Some Odd Things About Superman Returns

SPOILERS AHEAD

As always. still nobody notices that Clark Kent looks EXACTLY like Superman with glasses.

A whole building of intrepid reporters can't put two and two together that both Superman and Clark Kent left the same time and were gone for exactly the same time.

WHY, if Superman Returns is following the continuity of the first two films, does Luthor STILL basically repeating his same scheme in the original movie? Need a creative team, Lex?

WHY doesn't Kal Penn ever speak a word?

WHY does trigger-happy dude on the roof even bother to use a dinky little .45 on Supes when frickin' GATLING CANNON shells don't even register on the guy?

Judging from Lois Lane's reaction, Lex Luthor is apparently the ONLY guy in the world to use wigs.

HOW did Superman manage to lift the damn Kryptonite continent into space when just being near the place lost him his powers?

Am I the only one kinda thinking that Lois Lane got bumped around a bit too much in the airplane?

Would ANYONE actually want to LIVE in that crystalline Kryptonian island?

So, did any of the nurses squeal when they took off Superman's hanfords? Did any of the doctors?

Man of Steel


Superman returns. But is this a good thing?

I finally got to watch Superman Returns on Sunday. As you've read in my previous posts, I was not too enthusiastic about the movie, given some lukewarm to downright-pissed reactions from some of my friends to this 'requel' of the classic Superman films from former X-Meg Bryan Singer. Reviews all over the place have praised it to the high heavens or damned it to the depths of the sea. So what does a MADman think about this latest superhero flick?

Superman Returns picks up the slack sometime after the old Superman II flick (you all know... the one with "KNEEL BEFORE ZOD"). Knowing this is important since there is a pivotal event that happened in II that bears fruit (Hehe) in Returns. Anyway, Bryan Singer's film basically retcons the horrid Superman III (with the supercomputer) and the absolutely abysmal Superman IV: The Quest for Peace to the blackness of oblivion. After II, Superman finds out that astronomers have found deep in space what appears to be the remains of Krypton. Struck by the need to see if there's even a tiny shred of his origin left out there, Kal-El squeezes into his star-shaped spaceship/cradle and goes off into space, not to be seen for the next five years. Once he returns, he finds a world more violent, less innocent and more troubled than ever before... a world desperately in need of a god-among-men to help give a hand. But while the world praises Supes for his return, the one person he values the most seems to have gone on without him.

Despite all my misgivings about this film, I actually got through it without much of a strain. In fact, it's quite enjoyable at times, given that modern special effects have finally, FINALLY allowed the grandness that is Superman- flying, invincible Superman, to be realized on the big screen. The special effects, for one, are quite good compared, especially compared to the old movies. Brandon Routh, the relative unknown who has now been catapulted into instant recognition (thanks to countless action figures that bear his mug), acquits himself rather well as both mild-mannered reporter Clark Kent and his super alter-ego. As Clark, he seems to emulate Christopher Reeve, but thankfully with little of the over-the-top dorkiness. As Superman, he's doesn't talk much but lets his actions communicate his benign, 'big brother' like presence (yes, he hears EVERYTHING).
As for the other cast members, Kevin Spacey does, in my opinion, a fairly excellent job in his portrayal of Lex Luthor, Superman's nemesis. There's a hint of Gene Hackman's con artist in there, with a bit of Mr. John Smith from Seven, and a little bit of Keyser Soze's seeming infallibility. This new Luthor has humor and slightly a forgiving side (at least he doesn't kill off moll Kitty Kowalski (Parker Posey) for an act of betrayal, and he does seem to care for his underlings a bit). He's still ruthless and scary when he's serious though... and he's still ridiculously obsessed with REAL ESTATE.
Other characters. Kate Bosworth is gorgeous, but I really see her as too young for the part. Otherwise, I like her. Frank Langella's Perry White, Eva Marie Saint's Martha Kent and Sam Huntingdon's Jimmy Olsen are note-perfect. Jason Marsden is a revelation in this one... X-men's former Cyclops vindicates his defection to DC's flagship as a character that is pivotal to the movie (unlike his underwhelming role in the X-films)- Lois Lane's fiancee' Richard White. Here's a man, an ordinary man, who nevertheless stands equally with the Man of Steel in terms of the love of one woman. Marsden plays it with class and I hope his character pans out more in future installments.

And then there are the iffy's. Parker Posey's Kitty Kowalski is Luthor's moll, his mews. She provides quite a few laughs in the film and serves a good purpose as the inevitable turncoat. A bit grating she may be, but she fares better than Kal "Kumar" Penn, the young comedian who is given a dialogue-less role as one of Luthor's thugs. His bit of casting mystifies me, but what the heck.

Unfortunately, Superman Returns is not flawless. The movie is overlong and could do well with several minutes chopped off. I understand as a starting movie you can't throw in Darkseid or have Zod return from the Phantom Zone just yet, but darn... all Superman does in this film is fix stuff. There are no big fight scenes. No toe-to-toe fights, save for a one-sided beating late into the movie. The most thrilling part is an airliner/space shuttle rescue that happens in the first third of the movie, leaving uneven action sequences for the rest of the movie, along with a non-climax that doesn't really pay off much. Yes, the movie opens for a sequel, but it would not have hurt to have a good finish, a satisfying getback before the final Christopher Reeve-emulated smile in space.

In the end... Superman Returns wasn't as horrible as I feared (Ang Lee's Hulk is still untouchable in that regard). The flashbacks to younger days didn't last too long, and I didn't get the urge to walk out of the theater (except to go piss). Performances were fine, the special effects amazing. Let down a bit by non-action and a questionable, too drama-heavy script, but promising for good things to come.

What I want? For the 'requel' of Superman II to have Ralph Fiennes as General Zod, Angelina Jolie as Ursa and Paul 'Triple H' Levesque as Non. Let the speculations begin. Hoho!

Up in the Air

The new Superman Returns movie is in theaters now. Some people, like Vin, have already gone and watched the flick, but I'll be seeing it over the weekend, probably. I have to say that while I do want to watch it, I'm not a big Superman fan. In fact, I never really liked the old movies. The original Superman movie by Richard Donner with Christopher Reeve was, for me, one of the most boring and slow-paced superhero movies ever. Lex Luthor (Gene Hackman) was more con man than genius, there was no big super fight (save for multiple disaster scenarios and saving stunts) and the finale was... turning back time? I'd go as far as saying I put the original Superman along with the Hulk movie in terms of superhero movie popularity in my book.
Now, here comes Superman Returns, which director Bryan Singer has unequivocably stated as following the mythos of the first two Superman flicks. It's a 'requel', ret-conning the ludicrously bad Superman III and IV into non-existence (and good riddance) and re-starting the stage for a new direction. Unfortunately, from all that I've read, Superman Returns also seems to be re-treading the events from the original Superman film- same Luthor plot, same revisiting of the boring times at the Kent farm in Kansas, blah blah blah. So you can understand why I'm not exactly shaking in my boots to see it. In fact, I'm more excited at watching Dead Man's Chest.

Anyway I will be seeing the film in any case over the weekend so I can blog about it. I am looking forward to seeing Kevin Spacey's turn at bringing the bald blackguard to life, though I still feel the animated version in Justice League Unlimited can kick both Hackman's and Spacey's baddies into the vastness of space with ease. Review to come soon after.

Fighting the Good Fight

For the past several weeks, things have been a storm of overtime at The Salt Mines, particularly because of a product pitch. FYI, pitches are held when a client/company needs get a new ad agency to do the advertising for their product. Agencies are selected and butt heads, pitching their stuff to win the account (in much the same way that lawyers battle in court). It usually involves hours and hours of brainstorming, pouring over research and the inevitable overnight stays at the office to produce the winning materials that will impress the clients enough to award the disputed account.

This particular pitch has been incredibly fierce... we were initially in the running with at least five other agencies. After the first round of presentations was over, the field was narrowed down to TWO; Us and one of Manila's leading ad agencies today.

With not much time and quite a bit of pressure, the crew threw stuff into the breach to win round 2. Somehow, someway, we went into the second presentation confident in our position and our materials.

It was a weekend before we would be told the results... There was going to be a ROUND THREE.

That's what's been keeping us all busy this week, as we made one last big push to make our mark. It's also where everything seemed bleakest, when we reached a crossroads where, to quote a line from Harry Potter, we had a choice between doing something that was 'right', or doing something that was easy.

In the end though, we all went with what we felt was right and steeled ourselves. Win or lose, we were going down swinging.

Just some time ago, I was informed that, unfortunately, we didn't get the account.

HOWEVER, apparently the final fight was pretty close to the very end, and we apparently impressed the clients enough that they awarded us a different account.

So, somehow, after all was said and done, we fought and lost but kinda won too. A hard-fought loss that ended with a little victory. But then again, maybe we had already won the night before.

It's these kinds of things that make advertising such a weird and colorful place. And why, in a strange way, that I know I'm in the right field of work.

Time to get some rest now. Life goes on at Salt Mines tomorrow.

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.