Box Office D'OH


Finally.

I made it a point to march into a theater in Megamall last night to catch The Simpsons Movie. I have to say, even with the apparently massive Simpsons fan base in Metro Manila, it's been so long since the series has been at it's prime to expect crowds of people to mob theaters to watch Homer and family on the big screen. As it was, I entered a nearly-empty cinema (granted, it was LFS in the middle of the week), and there was only one screen showing off the movie at Mega.

Anyways, how was it? To try and describe the plot is pretty useless- like any Simpsons episode, you have no idea where the plot is headed from the start or even the whole of the first act. It's all about life in Springfield, numerous sight gags and fast jokes that come at you rapid-fire, until the inevitable Homer Blunder that sets the important events into motion. All I can say is, Homer does something utterly HOMER (read: Stupid) and ruins life as everyone knows it in town. Angry mobs gather. Lives are lost. The Simpsons have to take flight. But somehow, someway, the first family will end up all the better for it.

There are of course lots of funny moments that got me laughing out loud (my favorite of the night was a single line from geeky little Ralph). Many more jokes though were hit-and-miss; you know it's funny, just not enough to elicit a laugh. But you appreciate the effort anyway. I wish I could have watched this in a full theater though- that would have been a blast. In fact, I'd want to watch this movie in a place with as many people as possible- just watching this alone on DVD is just kinda... blah. Or D'oh, as the case may be.

In the end, The Simpsons Movie seems in some ways just a flashier, longer TV episode, though they DO do things here you would never see on TV, and 2-D animation does indeed look pretty slick on the big screen. For fans of the series, this is a must and perhaps it will rekindle the love for the family that time may have slightly eroded. For everyone (if there is anyone) else who don't get the Simpsons, take a watch of this film and see what you've been missing.

The Simpsons Movie is now showing in theaters all around the Metro. Don't have a cow, man. Get a ticket!

My Current Phone Wallpaper...



The artwork is from the cover of an All-Avatar Nickelodeon magazine coming this September/October. I'm hoping it comes out here too, but then, by that time Book of Fire may be already showing, so whatever. Darn it... September 21 is so frickin' far away. Patience... patience. All things come to him who waits. Meh.

Shoot!



Last week, we shot a promo commercial featuring a gaggle of beautiful young ladies. TV shoots are a bit hard for me; they usually consist of me having to get up extra-early in the morning since the grind usually begins as early as possible in the day. Still, getting fetched and driven from your door right to the shooting venue and back home afterwards is pretty nice. Also, we usually are served like kings (well, maybe more like lesser nobles) while on the shoot, with food and drinks aplenty readied just for you. Our particular production house for this shoot, Unitel, is known for their yummy food catering, and this time the goodies I will really remember are the unique preparations of leche flan and Braso de Mercedes (served swimming in syrup with fruits) and a particularly nice dinner with Chicken Pastel and LOVELY mashed potatoes on the last shooting day.


It's desserts like these that make it all worth it...

But of course, it was still work and we basically sat there the whole day pouring over this or that take and shot, being consulted for this and that and so on. After two days, it was nice to end the job at the start of the weekend. This week, we get to see the editing and finishings before the ad goes on the air in a week or so. On to the next ad, then!

Led Astray


Vikings versus Indians. Cool, right? Wrong...

Okay, today wasn't a very good day for movies. Me and my bud Pot had intended to watch The Simpsons Movie at Greenhills, but we ended up giving up when we were faced with the prospect of a 2-hour wait to the next showing. So we just passed the time looking around Shoppesville and V-Mall for stuff and then going on home to crash at The Sanctum. For some reason, we ended up popping in Pathfinder into the DVD player. Pathfinder is a pretty recent movie, but I remember it just came and went in theaters locally. The poster looked cool, but the trailer was a mess of gory stuff that I just didn't find enticing. Well anyway...

Pathfinder is set hundreds of years before Columbus discovered America, and is all about the Viking expeditions that apparently made their way into Indian territory. The film opens with a young Viking boy and apparent survivor of one such expedition being found by an Indian woman. The blonde-haired, blue-eyed youth is taken in by the Indians despite being a child of the 'Dragon Men' (the Indians' name for the Vikings) since Indians are like that. The kid soon grows up into a young man named 'Ghost'(Karl Urban of LOTR fame and Doom Infamy). He's of course an outcast to some of the Indians, but liked by many of the ladies, particularly one lovely lady named Starfire, the daughter of the local Pathfinder, or shaman. Ghost however is continually reminded that he is not of the Indians' blood, and his path lies somewhere else.

To crash the tranquil life of the natives, the Vikings return. Now, these aren't nice cartoony Vikings like Hagar the Horrible. They're not honorable warriors like the guys who accompanied Antonio Banderas in 13th Warrior. Nope... these guys are more like the URUK-HAI. I mean, these guys look, sound and act like they walked straight out of flamin' MORDOR. These are nightmarish, horrific, faceless, horned and armored monsters who kill for sport and nothing more. Of course, what do these baddies do? They start hacking Ghost's Indian people into bloody chunks, and aim to do the same to everyone else on the continent, apparently. Of course, the Indians don't stand a chance... good thing they got an Indian-raised Viking Warrior on their side.

Okay, at this point, all sense seems to fly out the window as Karl Urban suddenly becomes a master of the Viking Sword despite the fact that he has received no training at all from anyone in the use of the metal weapons. At the start, the Vikings kill everyone in their path with no resistance whatsoever, and seem invincible. Then Ghost shows up, and he starts killing them in droves. Heck, as long as Ghost is there, even the Indian girl Starfire gets to scratch off Vikings herself. But it really doesn't matter since, despite arriving in apparently just three longships, there seems to literally be no end to the enemy numbers. For every seven killed, another horde shows up. What the heck? Is there a Viking re-spawn point somewhere I missed? No matter how many Ghost kills, it eventually takes both a frozen lake and an avalanche to finally kill off these Terminator-like invaders.

No matter that Indians are supposed to be fierce warriors in their own right, learned in the ways of the land and their environment. Here, they're either cowardly sissies or idiots who walk into their own traps, can't defend themselves for shit, and can't outrun heavily-armored Vikings who are totally alien to the vast land.

HECK, in one crazy stretch as Ghost and his friends are being hunted by the Vikings in a dark cavern, time and again a Viking sneaks up on them DESPITE being in full armor. Apparently the Vikings are also half-Japanese, able to move silently like frickin' NINJA until they are within inches of their prey, at which point they just habitually give themselves away with a loud "HA!!!"

The action drags for far too long; Ghost kills Vikings ala Die Hard. Ghost kills Vikings ala Rambo. There's even a bit borrowed from King Arthur (another crapper). But in the end, the Indians still get their arses kicked so many times it begins to feel masochistic and repetitive. When the final Endgame kicks in and Ghost tricks the Vikings into a lethal trap on an icy mountain, the film STILL can't get the hint and finish stuff cleanly, needing to drag out things unnecessarily. I mean, I half-expected the Vikings to rise out of the climactic avalanche and still kill a hundred Indians or so before finally keeling over.

Oh, and did I mention the acting sucks? The indians are as wooden as their useless weapons, and there are derivative lines of dialogue like "You speak in riddles, old man," and "Fight and you die. Leave, and you may live," all over the place.

Poor Karl Urban yet again gets himself into another crappy action film. I mean, I like the guy. He has a good look, but this kind of junk doesn't do his career any good. I blame the director and the writer for this particular film. Unlike good action heroes of old, Urban isn't allowed to look strong enough. He is never cool or bad-ass enough in this film, as he should for a revenge-payback theme like this one. In any case, the bad acting, horrible dragged-out pace and overly gory Pathfinder is something he should never have wandered into.


Karl Urban vainly tries to escape the horror of his latest bad movie.

This film should appeal for gore buffs, since the bloody action is pretty brutal- in fact, the imagery and cinematography is perhaps the only good thing about the film, capturing the look and feel of Frank Frazetta's barbarian artworks. Oh, and there's Clancy Brown as the evil Viking leader, who is actually pretty cool. Aside from that... this is a movie neither modern day- Norse or Indian descendants would be proud of, since it slams both their cultures with the subtlety of a fist to the nose. I'd tell Pathfinder to get lost.

Avatar Season 3 Trailer



The Avatar Panel at the San Diego Comic Con has come and gone, and here is the result... a 2-minute or so long trailer showing scenes from Book of Fire. The quality of the vid isn't too hot- there are lots of defocused parts, and it's dark- but Avatar fans will be watching this until September, mark my words. Anyways, the scenes shown are pretty awesome and had me going "WHOA!" continuously.

Where do I start? Well, the trailer (at about 2 minutes) shows scenes of a recovered Aang and friends taking the fight back to Azula. Zuko is his usual emo self, still not happy even though he seems to be welcomed back into the Fire Nation. There's a scene between him and a disheveled, ratty-haired Iroh where he says that he has only himself to blame for what has befallen him. OUCH.
There's even more action, showing Katara looking pretty awesome and heroic with her mastery of waterbending. Toph looks taller, buffer and dressed in a new costume in one segment. But it's Sokka who has the most changes, apparently training in the use of a sword and wielding the more mature weapon instead of his trademark club and boomerang. FINALLY, he may get to be bad-ass in Season 3. And of course, we see Aang, sometimes with hair, sometimes without, in a new costume, in various settings to a scene where he seems to be looking over the Fire Nation's capital.

New stuff includes scenes with a young Avatar Roku (apparently), some mysterious new faces who may or may not be enemies, and lots of epic scenery like a force of Earth Kingdom Tanks (lead by Teo the Machinist Boy), Fire Nation war balloons and what appears to be Appa in Battle Armor.

Aside from the trailer, there are tons of screens and shots of artworks and designs over at Avatar Spirit.Net showing the Gaang in Fire Nation disguises, designs of Fire Nation citizenry and warriors, and lots of gorgeous art depicting the tropical paradise which is the Mysterious Fire Nation.

Some Cool Snippets of Information...

Avatar as we know it, the Story of Avatar Aang and his friends and enemies, ends with Book 3. However, it has been confirmed that Nickelodeon has renewed Avatar for three more seasons. The creators have hinted that the series will continue on with new characters and new stories set either in the past or future of the Avatar world.

There will be an episode entitled "The Beach" which has the Ozai Angels (Azula, Mai and Ty Lee) showing off more skin than ever before in sexy swimsuits. This is about as close to anime-style fan service as we can get with a US cartoon, I guess. The bad news? The old crones Li and Lo will alse be baring all... AAARRRHHHH...

M. Night Shaymalan was at the SDCC, talking about the future live-action Avatar movies he is developing. A special feature on the films will be included as an extra in the Avatar 2nd Season DVD Box Set.

Man, that's a lot of stuff. I'm still looking forward to seeing a clearer version of the trailer and more vids from the Avatar SDCC Panel. It's going to be a long wait to September, but darn... all this good info and imagery should make the wait a wee bit more bearable.

Yeah, right.

Hot Date


FINALLY, it's set.

Book of Fire, the 3rd Season of Avatar: The Last Airbender, is set to premiere on television on September 21, 2007. This is the date on the special Avatar hologram cards being given at the currently ongoing San Diego Comic Convention. The long wait isn't over, but at least the end is in sight.

To recap things so far... The Mighty Earth Kingdom, the last great bastion against the invading Fire Nation, has fallen under the control of the ruthless Princess Azula and the Dai Li. Prince Zuko has chosen to side with his once-hated sister, betraying both his beloved Uncle Iroh and Aang the Avatar. Battling against two formidable Firebenders and dozens of Dai Li agents, Aang and Katara barely escaped, with Aang mortally wounded. Using the Sacred Water given by the Northern Water Tribe, Katara brings Aang back from the brink of death. The Avatar's party escapes Ba Sing Se on Appa's back, bringing with them the Earth King and his pet bear, Bosco. It doesn't get any darker that this, people.

The answers we seek, the comeuppance we crave, the action we've come to expect and the characters we love return this September. I can't fricking wait. More information and stuff on the 3rd Season is expected out this weekend as the Avatar Panel at the SDCC convenes. Damn, I wish I were there right now. Oh well.

Tabloid TV

I have to confess that usually at night, I put the TV on to ETC to catch the latest news on The Insider and Inside Edition. While it's quite interesting to see the day-to-day lives of American celebrities being examined with the magnifying glass of a CSI, I have steadily found it unnervingly creepy how the US tabloids and media just go a bit too far as long as it makes news. Like that whole fiasco with Anna Nicole Smith. She wasn't an angel by any length, but the most horrid thing for me wasn't that she died exactly- it was that her death, into her autopsy and burial were on the spotlight and sold on air to the very end. People frickin' DIE on television for the public's pleasure, in a way. Whatever happened to the right to die in peace or dignity?

Well, perhaps that's the price of fame. On the other hand, another really irksome thing for me is how the young, beautiful princesses of Hollywood- Britney Spears, Lindsey Lohan and Paris Hilton... are self-destructing on camera. Rich, beautiful, famous but inexplicably and incredibly BROKEN. Feh.

I should just try to tune off the Hollywood news and just get back to watching clean, pleasant stuff. Like Forensic Files and Murder Investigations on Discovery Channel. Mmm.

Welcome Back, Potter

I haven't been to a mall in days, so I missed all the hubbub about the launch of the latest and last Harry Potter book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Spoiler whore that I am, I already know how it ends and all that crap, but I do fully intend to go and read the last three books for myself eventually. I'm more a fan of the movies than the books, but I do see value in having a copy of each of the seven parts of this significant bit of pop literature. Or maybe I'll just download an audio book or something. Whatever.

Anyway in case anybody doesn't know yet, here's how it ends. Harry defeats Voldemort only to lock himself into becoming the next Dark Lord, so he has Hermione kill him. Hogwarts is renamed Potterdore Academy, in memory of Harry and Dumbledore. The End.

Just kidding. Go, read it and enjoy. Heh.

My New Dedicated Gaming Blog



Okay, Jonas offered me a little gig on blogging about games online recently, and while I didn't go for it, it did get me thinking about having a place where I can blog about games more regularly. Really, I talk about games a lot, and I know quite a few of you out there aren't really gamers so I'll spare you all my game-geek rants and limit my posts here on SRM to my non-game MADness.
Anyway, for those who actually love reading about games and the world of digital interactive entertaiment, you can just click on the big header to head for my brand-spankin' new gaming blog. Lock and Load!

Phoenix Rising


School's out.

I was able to catch Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix last Friday, even though the Glorietta 4 was crowded with the weekend movie mobs. As with the John Rambo principle, one can go where armies can't... it was a spur of the moment decision to watch, so why not. So, with a bag of Wendy's tucked under my arm, I went into the theater and watched the latest Potter flick.

Picking up right after Goblet of Fire, OOTP sees Harry Potter (Daniel Radcliffe) ruled by dark moods. Wracked by guilt due to Cedric Diggory's death and haunted by mysterious, frightful dreams that seem ripped from Voldemort's twisted mind itself, Harry's feeling more and more alone, hostile and hopeless. It doesn't help matters that the Ministry of Magic has suddenly taken an unexpected move to deny the return of Voldemort (Ralph Fiennes) and discredit both Harry and Albus Dumbledore. Even worse, Harry finds himself isolated from the Headmaster of Hogwarts, just in the time that he needs the great wizard's help and advice the most. Now he's being torn apart from within by Voldemort, and from without by Hogwart's new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher and this chapter's resident villainess, Dolores Umbridge (played to evil perfection by Imelda Staunton). With the hero at his most vulnerable, the only hope to stave off forces of dark magic lie with Harry's true friends, and with the mysterious group of wizards known as The Order of the Phoenix.

This latest Potter is very different from previous chapters; there's not as much wonder and fun as before (though director David Yates still injects whimsy and humor every so often, thankfully), and not a Quidditch match in sight. This is all about the students of Hogwarts banding together and friends hanging tough in the scariest of times, and keeping true even when the person you love doesn't seem to want your help. Even though their roles are noticeably smaller, Ron Weasley (Rupert Grint) and Hermione Granger (Emma Watson) are at their most refreshingly earnest and natural in this chapter. Ron isn't so much the bumbling fool and more of a staunch friend and ally, while Hermione gets to act against the rules and be a bit of a rebel. Even better, the other students of Hogwarts get to shine, with Neville Longbottom (Matthew Lewis), Ginny Weasley (Bonnie Wright) and the elder Weasley Twins Fred and George (James and Oliver Phelps) getting lots of screen time. While Cho Chang (Katie Leung) has her little (but surprisingly wet) kiss with Harry, she eventually turns out to be a dud character (though her 'fall' softened from the books, as I gather), a pleasant surprise is newcomer Evanna Lynch as the quirky Luna Lovegood. Able to reach the moody Harry and establish a bond through their shared experiences, Luna is a wonderful addition to the core band of Hogwart's Heroes.

As for the rest of the cast, it's the same familiar and comfy cast as always, and each is still as set in their roles as before, though many get pretty short screentime. Michael Gambon gives another strong performance as an oddly vulnerable Dumbledore, while Maggie Smith as Minerva McGonnagall gets cross swords with Umbridge in defense of the school. Other faculty like Hagrid (Robby Coltrane) and Severus Snape (Alan Rickman) get shorter, but no less sweet scenes. Outside of Hogwarts, it's great to see returning faces like Remus Lupin (David Thewlis), Mad-eye Moody (Brendan Gleeson) and of course, Sirius Black (Gary Oldman) surface as members of The Order of the Phoenix- Dumbledore's rag-tag resistance fighters against Voldermort's Death Eaters.

OOTP is certainly the shortest of the Potter flicks, moving quickly from the in-school rebellion and formation of Dumbledore's Army to a pretty flashy finale- a properly creepy and atmospheric foray into an aptly-named Department of Secrets, culminating in a Wizard Battle between the Order and the Death Eaters, and an impressive duel between Dumbledore and Voldemort. But sadly, like most middle chapters, it's all ultimately setup for the final battle yet to come. I haven't read the actual book, but the movie struck me as well-paced and tight, without any extraneous or missing bits. Perhaps if I read the book I'd be displeased with some omissions, but as it is I am pleased with the movie's conciseness.

The effects are the usual Potter- which is to say, they're brilliant. It's all just toned a bit darker this time around, as things get serious and the stakes get higher- a lot higher. Easily the darkest of Potters (even with the already melancholy ending of Goblet), this nevertheless got a smile from me at the end. I liked it. I liked it quite a lot, and it just gets me wanting to grab the last three books (all of which I haven't read) and raring for the next film. I just have to say to the studios- keep your cast safe and happy. The core trio of Radcliffe, Grint and Watson MUST end this series together at the very least. I don't care how much money they have to throw at those kids. It's just magic when this cast comes together.

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix is now showing in Metro Manila theaters. Jump on your broom and zoom off to watch it now.

Preview: Ninja Girl KO

It's only a couple of months away from the next Komikon, and I have to say, sadly, that the big K.I.A. book won't make it. Even so, I am planning to have something to show off during the Kon; a mini-anthology comic, nothing fancy (probably photocopied, ashcan-size). I'll talk more about this when it's more solid (Read: When I've started drawing the pages). On the other hand, if things go well, a project I am involved with WILL be at the Kon... and it's pretty slick.

I am of course talking about Mangaholix Presents, which will feature Ninja Girl KO!, which I wrote and created, with art by manga artist extraordinaire, Kriss Sison. With luck (crossing fingers!!!), the Kon will see Michiko Yamashita's debut issue released. Hope, hope!

Here are a couple of colored preview pages from Chapter One of Ninja Girl KO!


Michiko Yamashita gets lunch.


Anton walks cheerfully into trouble.

Mangaholix is a proudly-Pinoy made manga-style comic-zine featuring slick stories like the Engkanto comedy-adventure Aporia, Street Fighter meets Ocean's Eleven Midknighters, Sci-fi superhero action with the band Kala in Pulis Pangkalawakan and the fantasy adventure Kraust. Issues can be found in National Bookstore and magazine stores everywhere in the Metro.

Mac and Me



One of the cool things to happen this week at The Salt Mines is that our department all got new Macbook Pro laptops. It's been more than three years since we were issued our first Mac Powerbooks, which we got back then on a lease-to-own arrangement. Well, now that our Powerbooks are now OURS, we can take them home or do with them as we like while brand-new, replacement portables have been made available.

As opposed to the first batch of Macbook Pros which were notorious for bugs and defects (our department head went through two lemons before settling on one that worked fine), the new Macs seem fine. The widescreen LCD screens are gorgeous, and brighter by a large margin than the Powerbooks (though age may have something to do with this). Processing power is great, with Intel Core Processors now running under the hood, with 2 GBs of DDR RAM. More than 80 Gigs of Memory are there for use. Battery life seems excellent as well, with a full charge lasting about four hours or so (the Powerbooks were lucky to last three hours). I particularly love the new power cords, which attach to the laptop via magnets instead of your standard plug... this allows the power cord to detach easily without danger of damaging the laptop or someone accidentally tripping over the line and pulling the laptop off the table and to the merciless floor. Oh, and the keyboard lights up with a lovely white glow when you turn off the lights, for some moody night-typing. Awesome.

But I am of course trying to keep a modicum of distance from my new laptop, since it's technically not 'mine' (though we do have an option to buy them in a few years). I won't even dare bring this out of the office unless it's totally necessary. But darn, it's a gorgeous thing.

As for my old Mac laptop, it's now sitting at home in my Mom's room. I'm more of a PC user anyways, and The Sanctum's desktop does all my requirements perfectly. For now, the Mac can serve to get Mom up to speed with using keyboards and touchpads, typing and sending e-mails to my brother and sister abroad, or using Skype to make internet calls. You gotta love technology. Being a gadget freak these days is bliss.

Hot News


The Gaang sport new looks in Avatar Season 3: Book of Fire.

Okay, perhaps another bit of premonition on my part. On the heels of my recent Avatar musing came this bit of surprising but thrilling news. Early yesterday, Paramount Home Video has just announced the release date of the first DVD volume of the YET UNAIRED Season 3 of Avatar: The Last Airbender, as well as the cover art (yeah, that's it up there). The street date for the set, which will contain the FIRST FIVE EPISODES of the new season, is on October 30 (in the US). This has gotten some sites online speculating on a possible LATE SEPTEMBER premiere of Avatar: Book of Fire.
This has, to say the least, caused a furor online whether or not this news is legit. According to reliable sources at Avatar.net, one of the best Avatar fan sites around, it IS.

Anyways, take a gander at that art. Aang with HAIR. The whole gang present, with Katara (with a new 'do instead of her hair loopies), Toph and Sokka... in Fire Nation garb. My gosh. This is just getting me goosebumpy and giddy. It's been so long. TOO LONG. I want questions answered. Issues laid to rest. Cliffhangers hanged. Screw LOST. Screw HEROES. Screw frickin' 24. AVATAR is THE series on TV, man. All I want. NOW. NOW. NOW. NOW. One more would be pushing it but what the heck. NOW. Man, I am so happy about this that I don't mind that Aang's disguise, despite the nice hair, is kinda iffy since YOU CAN STILL SEE THAT BLASTED ARROW. Heh.

I hope this isn't some sick joke. Gah. Anyway, for the full news article that has started this buzz, look here.

Taxi Tale

So here I was along Katipunan one morning, waiting for a cab to whiz me off to Makati. After a bit, one comes along and I flag it down. I open the door and peer inside at the old driver.

"Makati?" I asked.

The driver grimaced and said, "Naka-tsinelas lang ako, eh." (But I'm just wearing slippers.).

Here's me, in outrage. "NASA LOOB KA NG KOTSE!!!" (You're in a frickin' CAR!!!)

Anyway, he drives off and I'm left thinking after, yeah, maybe it was better for me to have to wait for another cab. God FORBID anyone I know sees me in a cab with a driver who only has slippers on. I'll never live that down.

Feh. At the very least though, that was the first time I heard THAT excuse. Oh well.

Avatar Watch

Man, it's been months since the end of Avatar: The Last Airbender's Season 2... and STILL there's no Season 3 in sight. Well, at least, until now. An Avatar Panel has been confirmed for this year's San Diego Comic Convention! Last year, the first peek of the later episodes of Season 2 were featured; this year promises to have Avatar Fans foaming at the mouth with anticipation.

The SDCC's website describes the Avatar Panel as follows: 10:30-11:30 Into the Fire Nation: Nickelodeon's Avatar: The Last Airbender, Season 3 Sneak Peek".

Get a first look at what's to come in the third season, including clips from new episodes, a visual tour of the Fire Nation from show creator Bryan Konietzko and director Joaquim Dos Santos (Justice League); insider information from the show's head writer Aaron Ehasz (Futurama); and a voice-over demonstration from Dee Baker (The Fairly OddParents), who voices Appa and Momo.

Well, I don't think I'll be able to make it to San Francisco, but I'm pretty sure videos of the Avatar event will make their way online soon after. The SDCC happens at the end of July. As for Season 3? My gut is that we'll be lucky to see the first episode or two before 2008 ends. If it happens, maybe November or December. Sigh. Oh well... it's sure to be worth the freakin' wait.

Simpsonified



This is what I would look like in The Simpsons world. Yeah, my Simpsons Avatar is kinda lacking in detail and... well... depth... but it was the best I could do with what was available. Anyways, if you want to see what you would look like in Matt Groening's reality, zip on down to simpsonsmovie.com and have some fun Simpsonifying yourself or tinkering with the site's other features. The Simpsons Movie will be out later this month in Metro Manila theaters... after more than a decade and eighteen seasons, it's about time.

Die Hardest


Stone Cold Steve Austin- er, John McClane is back to save the world from evil.

The latest installment in the long-running Die Hard series of movies hits theaters in Manila today. Preceded by mixed reviews with an older, balder McClane and a PG-13 rating, does this latest terrorist-fighting outing hit hard or die out?

SPOILERS AHEAD

Things haven't been easy for Detective John McClane (Bruce Willis) of the NYPD. After at least three instances of being thrown into 'The Wrong Place at The Wrong Time' and battling terrorist threats hand to hand, you'd think that the hero cop would be living the high life. But nooo... McClane is divorced from wife Holly (Bonnie Bedelia doesn't show up- neither does pretty much anyone from past movies aside from Willis) and fighting with his now-teenage daughter, Lucy (Mary Elizabeth Winstead). He's got an average pension and quite the jaded, world-weary attitude... so when a ruthless cyberterrorist named Thomas Gabriel (Deadwood's Timothy Olyphant) starts a plan to plunge the United States back into the dark ages, getting back into the game is the last thing you'd expect from McClane. But jump in he does, with the veteran attitude of a guy who's seen a LOT of action, since he's John McClane. He's just that kind of hero.

Taking on a plot against national security and homeland defense that's ripped straight from the headlines and scary History Channel specials, Die Hard 4.0 (or Live Free or Die Hard in the US) concerns the threat of cyber-terrorism. While it may still be mystifying to some how a guy with a laptop can cause real, physical harm to anyone, the plain fact of the matter is that a genius hacker with a computer is about as dangerous as a terrorist with a loaded nuke in his backpack, just on different levels. Pretty much everything in the US is controlled by computers- traffic, power and light, security, the stock market... and if someone messes up with that, all HELL is going to break loose.

That's exactly what Gabriel and his crew of hacker-henchmen are out to do- take down the US one important piece of civilization at a time. Muck up the traffic control networks and the roads get clogged up with pileups and jams. Turn off the lights to blind the frightened masses. Take over the news and spread the terror even faster. Gabriel's thought of every scenario, prepared for every stage of his master plan (which, invariably in the Die Hard series, always ends up with a big pay-off)... except, of course, for an old-fashioned, technophobic arse named John McClane.

Given the premise that this is about 'virtual terrorists', you'd wonder if McClane was going to engage in a game of Counterstrike or Doom to put in some action. Luckily, Gabriel's minions include a small army of foreign mercenaries, including beautiful but lethal Mai Lihn (Maggie Q. from MI:3) and the Parkour-expert Rand (Cyril Raffaeli). The rest of his troops are effectively faceless thugs and goons from Mercenaries-R-Us... not as colorful or filled with personality as Hans Gruber's gang, but they do the job of shooting a lot of guns and dying in various colorful ways. As for the Big Bad himself, Tim Olyphant acquits himself well in the role of the evil hacker-supreme. He's not as suave or as cunning as Alan Rickman's Hans (Darn, who is?), nor does he have the face value or sheer villainous chops of Jeremy Irons' Simon or even the military zeal of Colonel Stuart. But with his quiet menace and ingenious use of computers to wreak absolute havoc and set up dastardly situations for McClane to tumble into, Thomas Gabriel makes for a formidable Die Hard villain; not a trained killer or veteran terrorist like previous heavies, but a thoroughly ruthless manipulator and puppet master whom McClane has to claw his way at to the very end. To his credit, Gabriel actually gets the closest to offing McClane, perhaps even closer than even Hans... and that's something.

Luckily, McClane isn't alone in his latest outing. Justin Long (the Mac guy) plays Mat Farrell, a hacker who was crucial to developing Gabriel's plans. His relationship with McClane is marked by generation gap conflict and the simple fact that he's more used to facing baddies onscreen than in real life. Thankfully, Long's character doesn't become too annoying at any point in the movie, and soon proves his worth getting dragged along.
Probably not as useful but just adding drama to the precedings is FBI agent Bowman (Cliff Curtis), who plays the series' resident "Sympathetic but Ultimately Useless Ally" for this time around. Usually seen in the middle of an office or command center full of government agents and personnel doing pretty much nothing except look pissed, Bowman is just there to clean up after McClane's messes and that's it.

Other characters include comics personality Kevin Smith as The Warlock, another hacker and Farrell's mentor- he's kinda-sorta funny and reminds me of The Comic Book Guy from The Simpsons, just not as sleazy. He's not that bad and gets to act a bit more than his usual 'Silent Bob' role at least. Finally there's Lucy McClane, who surprisingly enough cracked the audience up when she proves herself to be McClane's daughter in more than just name. The way she's portrayed is priceless, and gives a bit of a different spin to the hostage/damsel in distress role she's been given. Aside from that, she's darn HOT, so all's well.

The plot and pacing of Die Hard 4.0 is pretty fast, though you do notice the film's length, in a good way. You don't really figure out what the bad guys are up to until near the third act, but when it does it's not really earth-cracking; it's all about the money, after all it's Die hard. The action, as expected, is loud and flashy with lots and lots of gunfire, the odd 'special' death or stunt, and lots of McClane getting bruised and bloody. What I can say is that the stunts though seem to get more fantastic with every sequel. The first Die Hard had gritty, thrilling but pretty realistic action sequences, which got ramped up to more high-octane hi-jinx in the second and third installments. Well, Die Hard 4.0 pumps up the action to superhuman levels. How would McClane know that a car would fly up high enough to nail a chopper (it's in the trailer anyway) instead of just smashing into the ticket booth like any normal car would? Is it really that easy to jump off a speeding vehicle at full tilt? And that bit with McClane versus the JET FIGHTER... it's borderline Schwarzenegger-fantastic. I mean, I expect that McClane could jump into the Transformers Movie and kick Decepticon arse all by himself with a half-empty gun and a band-aid.

That said, it's all fun if a bit overblown. Scratch that- pretty overblown. Still, it's all fun and quite a crowd-pleasing romp with an old friend. Despite it all, McClane is still McClane- complete with that silly laugh and the "Yippie-Kay-Yay-Mother-" (insert gunshot here) at the end. If you love the Die Hard series, you will want to see this. And if you're not, it's a pretty cool and slick action movie that shoots and scores.

To end... is there room for another Die Hard? Well, as long as Willis can still lift a gun, why not? Or maybe they can spin-off and make a movie with a lady Die Hard starring Lucy? Or team her up with daddy? Who knows. All I can say is, I'll be there to see it.

Die Hard 4.0 is now showing in Metro Manila theaters. Watch Hard.

iPhone

In the US, the Apple iPhone is out. All over Youtube (who by the way deleted my original account for some reason- BASTARDS), there are tons of vids of proud new owners of Apple's newest and brightest tech device. I've watched a few and so far I've gathered quite a bit of info.
First of all, the iPhone looks incredible, with it's HUGE glass touchscreen (glass means it's resistant to scratches, which is great). The touchscreen does seem to live up to the hype, being far more sensitive and versatile compared to previous device screens- we've all seen the vids. Pinch and draw your fingers out to zoom in or out. Throw your finger to scroll up and down and marvel at the way the simulated physics keeps the momentum going.

The screen makes for a great viewing portal for surfing the web, watching movies and browsing photos. You can watch Youtube vids (it's one of the iPhone's built-in apps) and listen to your tunes. It certainly is the best iPod yet, as promised by Apple.

While it does have a Youtube app, it does not have flash; the videos played are converted to Apple's format through YT's agreement with Apple. As it stands, you cannot really watch every Youtube vid, only 'featured' and 'most popular' vids, and some limited access to the search function. Eventually, this should extend to the whole Youtube repertoire. Maybe.

However, along with the perks are coming some quite glaring flaws.

For one, you WILL need iTunes to sync and put in your vids and tunes. Treat it as an iPod (though I have never owned a pod, so I can only speculate) when loading stuff- you can't just drag and drop with abandon. The iPhone plays only mp4 videos or the native Apple format vids- DIVX, XVID and WMV libraries must be converted. GAH.

The iPhone's 2 megapixel camera is... pretty bland. Apparently you cannot adjust or tweak anything. There's no option to do anything aside from the one button to snap pics (which are pretty good anyway). No flash or auto-anything. AND, you can only take stills- no video. In any case, the iPhone's screen makes for a huge viewfinder at the very least...

There is apparently NO WAY to check how much free memory you have.

There are widgets (small apps that do various functions) in the phone, but no games. Third Party developers are barred from the device, so any app will come from Apple and that's that. You can't put in or set up your own custom ringtones, and apparently no way to put them into the phone. No themes or much in customization aside from the ability to put up a wallpaper. Perhaps personalizing stuff will come later- Apple isn't as used to this stuff like Nokia or Sony Ericsson, after all.

It's an expensive toy- the price ranges from $499 for the 4 GB model, $599 for the 8 GB phone. Then you have to pay about $1000 for the phone plans. As mentioned, the iPhone is exclusive to one carrier in the US (Cingular, I think) for the next few years.

Phone call quality is apparently BAD. Perhaps software updates will remedy this, but initial impressions with texting and calling has been less than stellar. Apple makes great iPods, but it all just shows how much of a neophyte they are in phonemaking.

Battery life is apparently pretty good- at least better than similar devices. Supposedly it will give you up to 7 hours playing video, and 24 for music. The battery is replaceable but Apple estimates that they would last for at least 400 charges (or two years).

Well there it is. So far, the iPhone's on the surface niceties are real- but beneath the lovely, huge, mirrory screen lies quite a few things that potential users will have to take notice off. Apple still has a lot to learn from making phones, but that should be remedied by later models. The one year delay between the initial US launch and the eventual Asian debut of the device will hopefully give us a more updated, user-friendly, even better iPhone. Still, I'm not really that hot with it. I'll probably stay with Windows- DIVX/XVID videos, drag-and-drop ease, third party apps and games aplenty, lotsa customizations and more are just too good to drop for looks and gimmicks alone.

But DAMN that screen looks freakin' beautiful. Dammit.

Transformed



The Transformers Movie. Or is it Transformers the Movie? Or just Transformers? Well, Transformers the Movie was the animated epic that was based on the classic Hasbro cartoon. I say based because the movie was a glossier, better-animated version of the TV show, where heroic Autobots actually died and things were really, really serious and dark. I can say I was a fan of the franchise, at least of the original series up until that first, momentous movie- I kinda outgrew the toys and like how I lost interest in the X-men when they suddenly splintered into various mini-teams, the Transformers went into CG, turned into weird animals or even- gadzooks- became anime-style shadows of their former selves. But when I heard word of the Transformers live-action film, I admit that I was intrigued. Michael Bay was doing it? I was intrigued and not a bit worried. I've read and heard of the many 'Bay-isms', the iffy stuff like Prime having lips and Megatron not transforming into a gun... but I was willing to give this a fair shot.

And now, after watching the adrenaline-rushing, turbo-charged, all-cylinders rolling action of the flick, I guess my worries have been allayed, and I have to say 'Yea' to Bay.

Transformers, based on the classic cartoon, opens up with the war between two factions of a robotic race, the good Autobots and the evil Decepticons spilling onto present-day Earth. Basically, the Transformers are all looking for an object known as the Allspark- the source of life and energy that created their world, which is now hidden somewhere on the planet. The Decepticons are also looking for their leader, the maleficent Megatron (voiced by an almost unrecognizable Hugo Weaving trying his best to channel original voice Frank Welker), who came to Earth many years before but disappeared.

For the first third of the film, we see mostly the Decepticons as they go about infiltrating the US military network, gathering information on their missing leader and the all-important Allspark. The movie opens with a sinister, silent chopper landing on a US base in Quatar, and you just KNOW something is wrong. The copter turns out to be a Decepticon and the kick-ass destruction that happens soon after is just a taste of the chaos to come.
Meanwhile, the Autobots are also on the move- one of them, plucky little Bumblebee, making contact with Sam Witwicky (Shia La Beouf), an American teen and grandson of the explorer who found Megatron and the Allspark several decades ago. From here on in, it's a running battle between the Autobots led by Optimus Prime to link up with the humans and keep the ultimate power from falling into the hands of the ultimate evil.

First off, this is a Michael Bay film, so it's all here- magnificent panoramic panning shots of bad-ass soldiers, dramatic slow-mo shots of everyone else at the most innocuous times, romantic moments in the midst of deadly danger, kinetically-exciting action and big, big explosions with lots of military hardware flying around. Oh, and there will always be someone waving a signal flare around. But what separates this from films like Bay's The Rock, Bad Boys II and Con Air are GIANT FREAKIN' AMAZING TRANSFORMING ROBOTS. The CG used to bring these metal menaces to life is unbelievable- convincing and utterly seamless. AND they put in the classic transforming sound in there too. Awesome!

Of course, this ISN'T our Transformers. Not really. Yeah, Peter Cullen is in there, bringing the classic tones of Optimus to life and giving the film instant validation. However, that's about it. Optimus is the closest in look, personality and feel to the original bots- everyone is radically different and more organic in design. It's actually quite hard to discern this from that bot, save Optimus and Bee. But you know what? It works. The Transformers look and move awesome, and that's what keeps this film alive and kicking you in the nuts and keeping you on edge with some explosive action when the big robots leap and transform and body-slam each other larger than life.

A lot of the movie though has to do with the flesh and blood actors, and you have to deal with quite a bit of set-up, a lot of over-the-top and pretty overblown performances and lots of shouting- enough that you'll start to tap your fingers and wonder "Where are the frickin' robots??!" But at least the humans are cool. Josh Duhamel (Las Vegas) and Tyrese Gibson play bad-ass special forces troopers serving in Saudi Arabia who have to switch from fighting terrorists to battling shape-changing aliens, and you'll root for them the whole way because they're pretty cool (Bay's military characters are always cool). Megan Fox as Sam Witwicky's love interest Mikaela is... well, a FOX and you just can't take your eyes off her (heh).

As the lead human, Shia La Beouf is likeable in the pivotal role of Sam and the spiritual successor to the cartoon's 'Spike' character- the human youth who bonds with the Autobots. He pulls it off with a character who's part-loser, part-normal guy and all-hero once the chips are down, and it works. John Turturro is borderline psychotic as the movie's answer to the Men In Black. He's over the top so much he walks a thin line between being funny and thoroughly annoying. There are tons of other oddball characters, from Jon Voight's apparently thoroughly-out of the loop Defense Secretary who ends up fighting the 'Cons hand to hand, to Sam's oddball parents, the hot Aussie government analyst babe and her weighty hacker friend. Everyone gets a lot to say- far more than the robots. Even extras and bit players on Bay's cast get to ham it up- which strangely fits in the movie since it really doesn't take itself overly seriously.

It's a loud, eye-blistering ride- laughs come with gasps, and Transformers fans will have giddies passing up and down their spines all throughout. After a ways of setup, when the Autobots finally gather onscreen, transform before your eyes (Gotta LOVE Jazz's ultra-cool transforming sequence) and Optimus finally speaks, you just know it's IT. It's frickin' Transformers. For real.

Of course, it's not perfect- there are parts that kinda drag, and there are iffy bits like how the big honkin' robots can just walk around seemingly unnoticed even though in plain sight. The 'Soundwave' of the movie- a little 'Con named Frenzy- is much too jittery and cartoony for such a sinister character- almost part Gremlin and part Jar-Jar. I wish that the individual Autobots and Decepticons had more character moments (perhaps on the DVD?). And I wish that some of the bigger action scenes could have been a bit easier to discern... a bit too much of the shaky-cam, sadly.
But for the most part this movie succeeds in one important thing- it makes you believe that Giant Transforming Robots EXIST. It's a pleasing, rabble-rousing popcorn flick which hits the right buttons with all the little cool bits, nods to the original and the high-octane action. A winner, in my calculation.

So what are you waiting for? Till All are One? Get off your rockers now, transform and ROLL OUT to the nearest theater!

Stoked

That's how I feel for the Transformers movie, which I'll be watching over the weekend. I've heard great things about this action-blockbuster, mostly about how awesome the action and special effects are, and how bad-ass the Autobots are compared to their TV cartoon incarnations. I was a pretty big fan of the original animated series right up to the animated Transformers movie, but I drifted away when the franchise took to weirder directions (like mechanical CG animals and worse, anime-style). I loved the old-school Prime-Megatron rivalry, Starscream's duplicity, Soundwave's menacing digital drawl and his menagerie of mini-monsters, the cool fights and big explosions. There were spotty, iffy moments, like that crappy ninja girl robot and the over-abundance of subgroups like the aerialbots, predacons and what the heck-ons that came after. But all in all, the Transformers hold a special place in my fanboy heart.

This weekend, perhaps on Sunday. We roll out. WOOHOO!

Erudite

This morning, while I was being driven by my Dad over to my drop-off point to work, he got into this talk that once he and my Mom retire completely, they'll probably sell one of our two vehicles. At present, we have two cars at home- an old but still well-maintained and excellently-running Toyota and an equally-well maintained but slightly newer mini-van/CRV type. He goes on to say they'll probably sell the Toyota and keep the CRV. Since they'll be retired, they don't really need two cars, and they can use the cash. He continues saying that perhaps when he wants to go out he'll just commute.

This pretty much horrified me, to tell the truth.

I commute every day. I do so because it's what I've been doing since I was a schoolkid in shorts. I've seen a lot. I've been through torrential rain, mud and puddles, molasses-thick traffic, sweat-stinking crowded jeeps/buses/MRTs, pickpockets, stick-up men, vagrants, annoying street urchins, plain bad-mannered bastards, bloody groupies, dirty cops and stuff that will make you want to pull out a machete and start hacking away at whatever and whomever is in range.

I do NOT want my Dad or my Mom having to go through that.

I will try my best to convince them to keep the cars. Both of them, for emergency purposes, or for simple convenience. I will try my best to make sure that my Dad never entertains this ridiculous idea of him ploughing into the wide world unless it's from the security and sure convenience and safety of a private car. They do not need to start commuting and mingling with the sea of humanity known as Rush Hour at this point of their life. Call me paranoid. Call me alarmist or an overprotective fuddy-duddy. I don't care. That's the kind of son I am.

A Game of the Highest Calibur



Some scans of the upcoming issue of EGM popped up online, allowing me to glean a few tidbits of information about the upcoming Namco-Bandai Beat 'em Up, Soul Calibur IV.

The game will supposedly look AWESOME, with graphical quality on a par with (or perhaps even surpassing) that of the current visual masterwork, Virtua Fighter 5. Character models and costumes are supremely detailed- the leather straps on Ivy's costume, for example, will actually leave realtime impressions/imprints on her body. The developers are going as far as to render stuff like Taki's nipples separately under her tight leotard. How's that for a job, eh? "Oh, I go to work rendering a ninja babe's BOOBS." Wild. So it looks that the character model of Ivy shown in the Soul Calibur IV trailer IS indeed in-game. Awesome!

As for gameplay, there are some juicy bits- how the usual lifebar works will change, and there will supposedly be a way to end a fight or round without needing to completely deplete an enemy's lifebar. One-hit kil? Disarms? Intriguing.

Character Creation, or Create-a-Soul, one of the more compelling additions in the previous installment, will return revamped and improved. There will be lots of new parts, clothing/armor and items to attach to your Ultimate Fighter, and some parts will even have an effect on gameplay. It will be more detailed and this time you will supposedly be able to tinker with stuff like character voices and other aspects. Hopefully the custom character models will equal the quality of the established fighters. The developers are working hard to ensure that players will be able to take their customized characters to combat online, and in a nod to players' demands, will allow you to now take your custom fighters' files and bring them with you for use on another console- something not possible with customized characters in the recent PS3 release of VF5.

The roster will supposedly see most of the cast returning, including the newbies from Soul Calibur III. Tira, the psycho-girl with the killer hula-hoop, in particular gets a new look as well as a more evil disposition and animations. As for new characters, Namco is keeping mum at this moment, preferring to reveal more about any new faces only when the game's release gets closer. Guest characters as well are a possibility- perhaps drawing upon swashbuckling characters from popular recent movies. Savvy?

With all this news (and just from less than half of the supposed 14-page blowout article in EGM), Soul Calibur IV looks to be even more incredible and intriguing a game than it's cousin, Tekken 6! With both awesome fighters set to release on Xbox360 and PS3 in 2008, it seems that Namco-Bandai will be taking the fight to new heights next year. I'm already sharpening my blades in anticipation. It's great to be a gamer. Heh.

Taking the Fight Online

Some intriguing early word from the humongous Soul Calibur IV blowout article in the new issue of Electronic Gaming Monthly. It's apparently now confirmed that the latest installment of Namco-Bandai's mega-popular blades-brawler will be coming to PS3s and Xbox360s with online capability. Yep, players will be able to slash and hack their friends from across the world via the internet. Even better, it seems that they will be able to do so using their own customized, created warriors as the game will sport a revamped, improved Character Creation mode. This feature, introduced in the previous Soul Calibur III, allowed players to select their custom warrior's gender, appearance, voice and weapon/skills, but at the time did not allow them to go online with their creations. Soul Calibur IV though, WILL.

This is great news, and bodes well for players who have been clamoring for online gaming with their beat 'em ups. Once again, 2008 can't come soon enough. The whole story can be found in the new issue of EGM, out on stands July 3. I'll be keeping my eyes out for this ish. WOOHOO!

Reel, Real and Unreal

If you are familiar with the live-action, testosterone-charged male soap opera that is the WWE, you'll probably have heard about the recent 'death' of Vince McMahon, via an apparent car bomb that exploded the WWE Chairman's limo... with him in it. This Sopranos-like demise (which was more Sopranos-like than the actual Sopranos finale) is, for the information of those unfortunate few who need some grey matter exercise, a WORK. Faux. It's the WWE's answer to the 'Who shot Mr. Burns' storyline from The Simpsons. Unfortunately, it seems that this big storyline now has to be put on hold, or even scrapped entirely given the most recent and tragic loss to hit the WWE.

Former WCW and WWE champion Chris Benoit was found dead with his wife Nancy and their 7-year old son Daniel in their home, the cause of death as yet unknown, but it has been ruled that it was a double murder-suicide. Things are still sketchy, but this just blows my mind.

Tonight's edition of Raw, which was supposed to continue the Who Killed Vince storyline, has been cancelled, giving way to a three-hour tribute to the late Superstar. According to news, Vince himself announced news of the tragedy to the gathered wrestlers and crew. Waiting fans outside the venue were told to go home and the wrestlers were allowed to leave the building and mourn the loss of a colleague, friend and wrestling icon.

Known as 'The Rabid Wolverine', Benoit was unequalled in his passion, dedication and work ethic in the WWE. The high point in his career was a couple of years ago, when he became the WWE Heavyweight Champion alongside his friend, Eddie Guerrero, who had also won the title of WWE Champion. Tragically, Guerrero would pass away shortly after. Now, Benoit is gone as well.
This news hit me like a ton of bricks today. Benoit was a great, great superstar and I truly enjoyed his reign as champion. He wasn't a big guy, so his 'underdog' image but bad-ass grappler style made him a favorite. His passing is a true tragedy. My sincere condolences go out to his family, friends and colleagues for this loss. I wish it wasn't true. I wish it was a work. But it seems to be real. Which makes it all the more unreal.

Kicking Back

In about a month, the Green Valley Country Club, where my parents have their Pro Shop (a service center for bowling), will close down for renovation. Actually, it's more of a rebuild as a new high rise will take the place of the aging recreation building. The estimated construction will take 2 years, so that pretty much spells the end of their present occupation.

I'm kind of worried... not really about the income, though, since I don't think we really rely too much on the sales/fees from the shop. The Pro Shop has seen better years... in fact, the last couple of years has seen my parents come home with little to no sales or profit. AND they still have an employee to give wages to. But I think it was more the fact that it gave them activity and something to do. A routine to follow, a job to keep you busy and active (even thought they pretty much only worked from late afternoon to evening). What happens when that disappears?

I'd like to think that it will be a good thing. My parents are both in their seventies or late, late sixties, and they've earned a relaxed retirement. It would be better for them to just stay home instead of hieing off to the club four or five times a week for little profit. My mom has her barkada and friends to keep her occupied. I'm actually thinking maybe she could start catering and selling her awesome spaghetti. But my Dad- he's got no visible hobbies or interests that I can discern. No activity or challenge means you age faster, so I really want him to have something when he finally retires. Perhaps a pet? A nice little dog (small so my Mom won't be bothered). Or maybe an aquarium to maintain?

I don't know the answer, but hopefully it will present itself soon. One month.

Tekken 6 Video



Here's the latest media on Tekken 6 straight from the private show held recently in Japan. The game is supposedly at about 50 percent completion, with about 40 characters in the roster including pretty much everyone from the previous installment and the new additions. It's the first time we see Miguel, the matador seeking revenge, in action and in his CG cinematics. The video features quite a lot of stuff, although there's no sound and the frame rate is pretty choppy. Shown are stages, some of which have multiple tiers/levels, some gameplay, tons of characters in action, character customizations (which seem more detailed and extensive ala Virtua Fighter 5), the special item attacks (Anna's shoe fling is finally seen, along with other item attacks), the Rage System and more.

We also get a glimpse of the CG cutscenes, one clip in particular showing what appears to be a dragon-like humanoid monster straining against some chains... pretty easy to figure out that this bruiser is probably waiting at the end of the story mode as the Boss. Just what is he/she/it? We'll just have to wait and see.

I'm stoked, really... this and Soul Calibur IV have made me a Namco fan again. The fighting game race is once again on with the champions of the genre throwing their hats into the ring. All I can say is, it's about time.

Heir Apparent


My next mobile?

After more than a year and a half, I'm still with my O2 XDA IIi, which has served me well and continues to be my all-in-one device. I really don't see myself changing phones, but in the case that I suddenly have a windfall or my lovely IIi is snatched from me by an army of assassins armed to the teeth, I should think about a possible replacement. After all this time, I really don't see myself going to a 'regular' phone, or even a smartphone of Symbian OS. I'm a Pocket PC phoner through and through, so any upgrade will be in that vein.

I finally found a desirable option in the O2 XDA Flame. The phone, which is roughly the same size of the XDAII series I've been using, sports a larger 3.6 inch VGA-quality screen, 2 GB of onboard flash memory (in addition to 128 Ram), 2-megapixel camera with flash, 3G and Windows 2005 OS. It also sports a video chip which on paper gives it as much graphical power as an Xbox. That's hot. On the sound side, it's got what seems to be surround-sound. Sounds good!

While the phone's use of a Micro-SD card irks me (WHY NOT FULL SD?!? WHY, Gaddemmet!!!), the built-in 2GB alleviates this, along with a new USB-to-go feature, which basically allows you to link the phone to any flash device (including those nifty small flash drives) via a nice adaptor cable, and then transfer files as you please on the spot. That basically gives you even more memory expansion possibilities.

And then there's the TV-Out feature, which lets you view documents, videos and anything on the Flame's screen on a TV via a cable. Now that is awesome. All these amount to a phone that just screams ME ME ME.

Problems? Well, it's mighty blocky and bulky-looking... even more than my already pushing it XDA IIi. But given the features, I can live with that. But the rich features also seems to translate to poor battery life... nothing a charger at the office can't help (but that's a definite problem). Then there's the cost. A brand new Flame may cost upwards of 50k. Steep, but well... after a PS3 and HDTV, this doesn't seem too bad.

Learning about the Flame makes me glad that I didn't get fixated on the Dopod 900. This phone looks like the real deal for me. But I'm not in any hurry. For now, I'll enjoy my XDA IIi a little while longer.

Fighter's Fan Service

Some news on the upcoming Tekken 6. With already three new faces revealed (first were cross-dressing tomboy Leo and Voldo-esque Zafina, then revenge-seeking matador Miguel), it has been mentioned in an update over at SD Tekken that there will be four more all-new competitors revealed soon. The game is testing in Japan, so there will be probably a lot of news about the game shortly.
Right now though, here are a few tidbits.

The game's graphic, powered by Next-Gen technology, makes the characters more beautiful and realistic (a given). The game will feature 12 new stages, some of which will have multiple areas and breakaway parts (think DOA's multi-section stages). Once again reiterrated is the fact that this will be the biggest Tekken with the largest roster of characters. The game will feature new moves as well as redone old moves, with overall game balance overhaul. A new 'medal system' will be making its debut.

There will be a new feature in the game called the Rage System. The lower your life bar goes, the higher your attack power gets. I'm not too sure about this- I can only hope it doesn't imbalance the game.

Tekken 6 will feature character customization beyond simple color/palette swaps or items/accessories, making for drastic changes in appearance (Yay). 'Concept' items will give the customization a 'rapid evolution'. There will also be 'move items' which provide new moves to the characters once equipped- we assume this are the special items like Anna's throwable high heels. It has been mentioned that Marduk will hit opponents with an iron bar, while Bruce Irvin will 'breed chickens'... what the HELL?

Tekken 6 looks to be a BIG step to shaking up the franchise, which frankly has gotten stale in it's later years (thankfully Tekken 5 and DR were fairly good games). Again, it's due for release in arcades in late 2007, while a PS3 conversion is expected in 2008. I think there's a fairly good chance I'll be seeing this locally.

On a side note, a full-body image of the Ivy CG model from the upcoming Soul Calibur IV has popped up online, and really- Miss Valentine is positively POPPING out of her barely-there costume. The showy ensemble is a much skimpier version of Ivy's default P1 outfit, with little more than cords of cloth covering her body, including her big BIG bumpers up front. All I can say is WHOA. Hopefully more about SCIV (and more Ivy) will be REVEALED soon as well. The Namco slasher is set for release on home consoles in 2008 as well. Next year's going to be awesome for the fighting game fan.

Now... where the heck is DOA5?

Justice For All



The 12-issue Maxi-Series by iconic comic artist Alex Ross is now complete. It's been a loooooong 2 years, but it's been worth it every issue. Ross' tale of DC's superheroes being sent to the threshold by an alliance of villains is a visual feast, once again showcasing the same style that made Kingdom Come a classic. It's not always easy to figure out what's happening in every panel, but darn- it's damn fun to figure out. No one quite gets it like Ross, and there are quite a few who try. The main draw of course is that simply, this is probably the closest we'll ever see a live-action, super-high budget Superfriends vs The Legion of Doom movie. It was awesome to see Ross' interpretations of the many heroes and villains, even if some looked like cosplay due to their 'realism'. But what the heck- his version of Poison Ivy is the best. Heh.

Anyway, I'll enjoy re-reading this series again to soak it all in more thoroughly, and to see the tons of stuff I probably missed in the panels. Afterwards, all that's left is to wait for the third hardcover collected edition, just for completist's sake. This is one keeper of a series, and hopefully Mr. Ross will revisit his unique universe again someday.

My Personal Ninja Girl


Coming soon to the pages of Mangaholix!

One of the coolest recent developments for me in the local comics scene is my getting involved with the cool crew behind Mangaholix, the latest manga comic-magazine from local producers/publishers. I was invited by the group's biggie, Emmanuel Javier, to submit some stories and was lucky enough to have one approved for inclusion in next few issues.

The story is Ninja Girl KO! While on a field trip to the forests of Northern Luzon, hapless student Anton Alcazaren crosses paths with the cutest Japanese war straggler ever- the beautiful and skilled kunoichi, Michiko Yamashita! Sooner than you can say, 'Belldandy in a gi', Anton's got himself his own personal ninja assassin at his beck and call. High-kicking, katana-swinging, shuriken-throwing chaos and comedy soon ensue!


Japanese war stragglers don't come cuter or deadlier than Michiko here.

I am doubly honored by the fact that the comic will be drawn by none other than Kriss Sison, one of the best local manga-style artists we have right now. I've been a fan of Kriss's work since I first saw him do pages of the Voltes-V sequel series in Questor Extreme Mangamania, and seeing my scripts come to life with his lovely art is just a giddy-inducing pleasure for me. If all things go well, NGK will see five issues. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

For now though, the first issue of Mangaholix, with three action-packed pinoy manga titles (Aporia, Kraust and Midknighters) is available for sale at National Bookstore outlets all over the Metro, and in comic shops and magazine stands. Check it out!

Surf's Up!


Silver Spoilers Ahead.

As part of my birthday celebration, I took the time to watch a movie today. I was actually trying for Ocean's Thirteen simply because it would have been cool to watch it on the 13th of June. But schedules didn't work for me, and I ended up getting to watch The Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer. And to be honest, It all ended up for the better as this sequel, thankully, more than rises to the occasion.

Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer reunites the entire cast from the first FF movie; Ioan Gruffudd as Reed Richards AKA Mister Fantastic, Jessica Alba as Sue Storm AKA Invisible Woman, Chris Evans as Johnny Storm AKA The Human Torch, Michael Chiklis as Ben Grimm AKA The Thing and finally Julian McMahon as Victor Volt Doom. Set some time after the first film, the movie opens with an ominous sight- that of a planet exploding a fiery death, a silvery bolt streaking out from the ruin towards our own pearly blue orb. Meanwhile, the world is proceeding as normal. The Fantastic Four, popular superheroes and celebrities (it is so refreshing to see heroes being treated either as the heroes that they are or just regular joes) who are knee-deep in preparation for Sue and Reed's wedding. Unfortunately, the arrival of the mysterious Silver Surfer wreaks havoc wherever he appears, and that spells bad news for the impending wedding.

However, it soon becomes apparent that the Surfer isn't the real threat. He's just the prologue to the real danger from the stars. In order to save the world from being devoured by a force beyond all comprehension, the Fantastic Four must defy the US military and fight their hardest against a ruthless, power-hungry nemesis who soon attains the unlimited Power Cosmic himself.

What can I say? I like this movie. In fact, I can say I loved it. I liked the first FF movie, and well, the sequel kicks more ass.

The cast is back together, and that is a good point. All are more familiar with their roles and are as likeable as ever.
Ioan Gruffudd is brainy, nerdy Reed and gets as much laughs with his powers as he does cool stunts (albeit Elasti-Girl still rules as the best execution of a stretch-o-hero).
Jessica Alba is still piping-red hot, and hilariously finds herself naked AGAIN in public- darn, when Reed says at one point that he's marrying the Hottest Girl in the World, you believe him. Anyway, she's as sweet and strong a character as she was in the first film, never a damsel and having lots of chances to show her stuff. In fact, you can tell that Sue is the glue that holds the team together.

Michael Chiklis' Thing is, once again, perfect, and provides laughs gamely along with Chris Evans' Torch- gladly we see him several times as a normal human as well as covered in the Thing costume (or is it CG?). It's refreshing to see him adjusted well to being the Thing, with little or none of the angst in the first film.

As for cocky boy, Johnny Storm gets a much bigger role here, providing both humor as well as some drama as the Torch is forced to become more serious. Try as his character needs to be an obnoxious, cocky flyboy, you can never really dislike the Torch- he's just having too much fun and more importably, he's never irritating too much- this is the right way to do a young, cocky teammate, which past superhero flicks never really got right. At the end, he gets to take the brunt of the action in the finale, ala Super Skrull with all the FF's powers, and it just plain rocks.

I even like Julian McMahon's Doom- which is no wonder since I did like McMahon's smarmy, confident villain even in the previous film, electro powers and all. Yeah, he's no longer deformed in this film (well, what can you expect... his actor is from Nip/Tuck), which throws another facet from the comics out the window, but darn- he still has the scary mask, a bad-ass cowl and cloak, and gets a great fight scene/battle at the end. That's all a supervillain could ask for.

As for the Surfer- the CG is pretty slick and awesome. He does seem so solid in the movie, and his back-story, personality and everything seems spot-on. And of course, he sounds like Morpheus, which is excellent. Will there be a Silver Surfer movie? Why not. Maybe someday.

Comic geeks will no doubt be disappointed about Galactus- and how he doesn't appear in the film as he did in the comics. He's more presented as a force, a god-like entity of unfathomable power. The familiar shape DOES appear, albeit vaguely, and I think it works, and works pretty well (it certainly will keep non-comic fans from needing to know why a giant guy with a dopey over-sized helmet is such a big deal).

All in all, FF:ROTSS works as an enjoyable, tightly-paced and entertaining superhero flick. It does pretty much everything right- comedy, drama and action are all mixed in well in the correct doses; the Thing-Torch horseplay never gets old, the Reed-Sue drama never grates or drags, the special effects, fight scenes and action work very well throughout. Even Stan Lee's cameo was kinda cool. And the Fantasticar ROCKS, appearing at just the right moment and staying for the duration. I can honestly say that with all that, I enjoyed Fantastic Four more than I did Spider-man 3. Really.

So don't believe some bogus negative reviews online- just bring the kids to the theater, buy some popcorn and get ready to enjoy the best superhero flick out so far this year. Nuff Said!

Burning Hot Teaser



Here's the debut teaser trailer for the next big game from Namco Bandai. The game is Soul Calibur IV, and it's bound for the PS3 and Xbox360 in 2008. The character models- if these are indeed in-game models- look absolutely awesome... as in, Virtua Fighter 5 awesome. I can only hope that stuff like Character Creation and other treats make it into the game. More information about the next and perhaps final chapter of the classic weapons fighter will be appearing in the July issue of Electronic Gaming Monthly. What can I say... 2008 can't come fast enough.

Birthday Boy

Yep, the MADman turns one year older today. I've got a lot to be thankful for... but to keep from jinxing anything and mentioning each and every one, I'm just gonna say, thanks for all these gifts. As I mentioned before, I've taken a bit of a vacation break starting today until next week. I'll be meeting up with some friends as well as recharging and looking at where I am, just before I continue moving forward. To everyone here who comes and visit the blog, thanks for hanging around and you can look forward to more MADness to come.

Somebody's Gotta Do It



I love educational but fun or interesting shows. Stuff like Mythbusters and Ghost Hunters, and food shows like Anthony Bourdain's Kitchen Confidential and A Cook's Tour. Well, another title has been added to my list of favorite shows. Dirty Jobs.

Tackling on the multitude of the world's messiest, grossest, most unpleasant and perhaps dangerous jobs around, the show has host Mike Rowe diving head-first into the thick of things, actually taking on occupations that most of us ordinary people wouldn't touch with a ten-foot pole... yet are necessary to keep civilization running. What kinds of jobs are these? Septic Tank Maintenance. Roadkill Cleaners. Any job that involves FISH and animals. These are jobs that often involve manure, chemicals, waste and other undesirables that you'd prefer to never, ever see. But the fact is, SOMEONE has to clean up after everyone else, and that's what this show explores, in lurid, graphic detail.

I've only watched a couple of episodes, but it's damn entertaining, if truly gross. This makes all those orchestrated Fear Factor eat-crap segments look like cake walks in comparison. Host Mike Rowe really gets into the nitty-gritty, and you have to admire the guy for getting knee-deep into bat guano, letting a huge catfish swallow his arm or submerge himself in crap to show us how dirty work can be. And despite cracking jokes and making light of the situations he often finds himself it, the show is a great testament to the honest, hard work done by the men and women who actually do these things day after day. On the other hand, it also makes me appreciate my own lot in life and daily trade. Beats shovelling real, literal shit for a living.

I have to say though- I'd like to see how Mike Rowe and the septic tank workers in the US would react to our own country's Malabanan poo-divers. Heh.

The show's not on local cable, but if you can get it (I get episodes through the internet- God bless the web), I heartily recommend this entertaining, enlightening and engrossing (with a capital GROSS) show.

Culture Shock



One of the most anticipated console games coming out soon is Bioshock for the Xbox360. While in gameplay and mechanics it seems to be just another first-person shooter, the game's design, look, storyline setting and mood give it a survival-horror/adventure feel that makes it accessible and desirable for gamers who don't necessarily like run-and-gun titles.

Set in an alternate, art-deco world, Bioshock puts you in the shoes of a hapless passenger of an airliner that crash-lands into the middle of the ocean. With trappings of LOST, you make your way to a strange lighthouse-like structure which soon leads you down into the underwater city of Rapture, a man-made utopia gone absolutely MAD. Once one man's dream to create a perfect society where genetic engineering can perfect the human body and form, it soon becomes apparent that something has gone horribly wrong in paradise.

Rapture is in ruins, with seawater leaking into the city in many parts. Corpses litter the many labyrinthine chambers, shops, avenues and sectors, and genetically-altered/deformed inhabitants calling themselves Splicers roam the city like bloodthirsty predators. To survive, you have to arm yourself, not only with guns and other weapons, but with Plasmids- special compounds that will alter your genetic structure and imbue you with various powers, such as the ability to throw electrical blasts or freeze enemies solid. The most powerful plasmids and upgrades you can get can only be acquired by using Adam, a special material that's as valuable as gold in this twisted world. However, there's a problem. Adam can only be found in the corpses that litter Rapture, and the only one that can collect them from their macabre source are the Little Sisters... tiny, mutant little girls that crawl out from the pipes, searching for the material. To get Adam, you have to make a choice- to 'save' the Little Sister and get a little bit of Adam, or get all the Adam from the tyke by 'harvesting' her. And that mean killing the kid.

While it's kind of made clear that the LS's aren't really human- the producers intentionally made this a bit of a dilemma for the players. Can you stomach killing a little girl for a nice upgrade, or will you play moral white knight and go another, perhaps harder but less unsavoury road? Your choice will affect the story as it plays out as you go deeper into Rapture, an intriguing bit that players will have to discover later on.
But don't think that even getting to the Little Sisters will be easy- each is watched over and protected by a Big Daddy, a monstrous, lumbering figure in an old-style, heavy-duty diving suit. These walking tanks serve as Bioshock's bosses and take quite a lot to take down- but you'll have to do it somehow to progress through the game. By using a combination of powers, weapons, using other enemies and the environment as your allies, you'll hopefully master the world of Rapture and penetrate the depths of this sunken nightmare.

With an intriguing story, incredible graphics and gameplay elements, Bioshock really looks like a game to look forward to. It hits the Xbox360 in August 2007.

Rare Pleasures

There are few things more satisfying and enjoyable as a long weekend. In this day and age of hectic jobs, sleep deprivation and pending responsibilities, an extension to your far-too-short my time is always something to be savoured. In my case, I'll probably just waste it away with sleep, surfing the web, going on aimless videogame sessions or DVD marathons. Or working on comic pages or scripts. Rarely do I really go out to the malls unless someone like my friend Pot comes by with his car, or someone else gives me a holler. It's much nicer to just stay home and recharge. Perhaps I'm getting a bit too old already.

This week will actually be a prolonged break for me- I'll be taking the rest of the week off after Tuesday and be on leave until next week. I'll try to make the most of this extended break. Or not. I'll do what I can, is all I can say.

They're Baaaaack...



After a pretty long hiatus, Ghost Hunters are back on air with new episodes. The latest episode- the 7th installment of the 3rd Season- has TAPS (The Atlanta Paranormal Society) continuing their Ireland tour with a visit to some creepy ruins supposedly being inhabited by faeries, and then to a London pub built on the location of a former prison. The ruins proved the more fruitful venue, with eerie figures showing up on the thermal cameras and even what appeared to be a sinister, spooky face manifesting on video.

The next episode looks to be a mix of gasps and laughs as TAPS takes on a place called the Hellfire Caves, as well as what may be a creepy wax museum. I don't expect these episodes to hit local cable until there are more episodes out- but at the very least, there will be 12 episodes to be shown starting this June for the rest of 2007, and the popular series is already set to continue in 2008. Lotsa scary fun to look forward to. Whoopie!

Retro Film Review: Land of Faraway

For not much reason, I began remembering recently this movie that I watched years ago when I was a kid. It was entitled Land of Faraway. Back then, DVDs (and VCDs/CDs, even) were nowhere around, and movies were available on betamax tapes for rent in shops or neighborhood merchants. I wasn't expecting much from the tape- I mean, the title was kinda blah- but the movie got me interested soon after I plucked it into the player.
Land of Faraway, AKA Mio in the Land of Faraway, is a European-produced storybook fantasy, based on a novel. It is all about the adventures of a young boy named Bosse, a seemingly ordinary kid living with his adoptive parents in a dreary home. One day, in a fit of anger, his surrogate parent remarks at how his father was a good-for-nothing drunk... something that Bosse vehemently objects to, despite him not really knowing his real dad.

Then, one day, while walking along, Bosse encounters, of all things, a floating, giant bearded and disembodied head (!) which informs him that he is going home to his true home, to his true father, in the Land of Faraway. So, faster than you can say 'Faraway', Bosse hangs onto the long beard and is whisked off to a magical land. There, he soon meets another boy, Jum-Jum, who becomes his best friend, and of course, his father, the King of Faraway. He also finds out that his real name isn't Bosse, but Mio. How's that for a complete change?

Now, you'd think that Bosse/Mio would be totally happy after that... but then, that would make for a pretty boring story. Soon after arriving in Faraway, Mio notices with a bit of alarm the size and massiveness of Faraway's castle gate. As Jum-Jum explains, it's needed so the King can sleep at night. Faraway is, unfortunately, a kingdom under siege, from an EVIL Knight named Kato. This blackguard has kidnapped many of Faraway's children, and is holding them captive in his castle. Eventually, Mio takes it upon himself to gather the courage (and the enchanted items) needed to free the captive children, confront Kato and defeat the stone-hearted knave once and for all.

As fantasy films go, Land of Faraway isn't too high on the whimsy- it's pretty straight and matter-of-factly told, a bit heavy-handedly at that. Since it's based on a novel, there's quite a bit of narration with lines that sound straight from the book. The way Mio and Jum-Jum go about defeating Kato also plays like everything's preordained, with an enchanted item matching every situation down to an invisible cloak for thwarting seven-times-seventy guards, and a magical sword for plunging into Kato's stone heart. The production is no LOTR, either, but at the time, it didn't really matter.

These days, what's really surprising for me aside from my remembering this film, are the names of the actors in the film which I never really remembered. Well, Kato the evil Knight was played by none other than Christopher Lee. Meanwhile, Mio's sidekick Jum-Jum was performed by... The Batman himself, Christian Bale. Wild, man.

The Land of Faraway wasn't really a great fantasy film, but for some reason I remember it to this day. I guess it was clever in some ways, magical in some others, with enchantment and a dreamy feeling making up for less-than-spectacular production/special effects and a European dub. It's one of the films that make up my childhood, so at the very least, it's something that I am glad that I was able to experience. Far better than the original Critters, I'd say. Heh.

The Saga Continues


Spoilers Ahead.

I finally watched the whole first season of Heroes, and what can I say? I love it. Yeah, the show isn't perfect, there are flaws and stuff aplenty that I find hokey or hard to swallow but in the end, it was a show that I could watch episode after episode after episode without batting an eye or slowing a beat. That makes it a winner in my book.

My favorite characters: Hiro Nakamura is one, of course, since he's a little fat guy with glasses who still pretty much is THE Hero in a series about Heroes. Peter Petrelli is bad-ass and he's got a great power (although why he can't control the exploding thing is a big flaw) which makes him the only real match to the series' main baddie, Sylar... who is by the way also another one of my favorite Heroes 'cause he's smart, bad-ass and deliciously evil and genuinely scary since he tends to kill everyone who gets in his way. Then there's Mr. Bennet aka "Horn-rimmed Glasses Man", who probably goes through the best character changes and developments in the series from hated villain to formidable anti-hero/good guy. Noah's little girl, Claire also rubs me the right way not only being cute but having the guts and morals of a true hero.

I'm not too hot with Nathan Petrelli (since you can never really tell if he's good or wishy-washy) and the super-powered family of Nikki and D.L. As for Matt Parkman, seeing him in his 'dark' version turned me off to him, his former run on Alias notwithstanding.

Best Moments: Still, the first time Nathan really cuts out flying. The part where Claire wakes up on the autopsy table. Mohinder getting the drop on Sylar. Future Hiro making his debut.

Disappointing Moments/Iffy Parts: Why can't we see the final battle between Alternate Sylar and Peter??? The solution to the Bomb threat was pretty... just there. Why couldn't Peter fly off on his own? There were like, at least two other people there who could shoot Peter if it was really needed. Or, why can't someone just clock him like Invisible Guy did in an earlier episode? Oh well.

For the most part, Heroes was a engaging, addictive watch. I can't wait to see how they advance the stories of the various heroes (I am glad that they are apparently going to continue the stories of the surviving heroes in the next season) and introduce new characters into the mix. No word yet on when Season 2: Generations starts, or when the one-shot Heroes: Origins will begin, but I'll surely be keeping my eyes (and browsers) peeled. YATA!

There Shall Be Only One

I got my hands on a copy of Highlander: Search for Vengeance, the anime version of the long-running franchise of sword-swinging immortals out to decapitate all other challengers in the bid to win 'the Prize'. This latest movie and first animated incarnation of the adventures of the MacLeods is megged by the acclaimed Yoshiaki Kawajiri, whose previous works include the seminal Ninja Scroll and Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust, while writing credits go to writer David Abramowitz, who wrote the scripts for a ton of Highlander shows. The feature film is being produced by Studio Madhouse, which pretty much gives Vengeance the same look and visual style of Kawajiri's past works.

The story isn't the most original- the protagonist, Colin MacLeod, is searching for Marcus Octavius, the immortal who slew his beloved centuries ago. Colin's hunt takes him throughout many periods of history, from World War II up to the near-future setting of Vengeance's present, where the world has been ravaged by both environmental and man-made disasters. The final battle will be fought in Marcus Octavius' fortress, once the city of New York. Will Colin lend his aid to the beleaguered freedom fighters battling the immortal dictator's oppressive reign, or will he simply seek to satisfy the hatred burning in his soul? Well... probably both actually. This movie really shouldn't hold too many surprises.

Reviews have already given some ideas of how Vengeance fares- the time-spanning chase has been the Highlander story from day one, so it doesn't really tread into any new territory. Also, it isn't as gory or violent or sexually-explicit as Ninja Scroll was, nor are the character designs as engaging or interesting. At the very least though, the animation looks good and there should be a fair bit of action and sexy sparrings onscreen. I'll try to give this an earnest watch as soon as I can so I can give my own two cents into the mix.

Spice Girl


Satoshi Kon's latest psychothriller anime.

Dreams are amazing, aren't they? One night you're surrounded by familiar faces and presences in your underwear... another night, you're being chased by a monster while running on a treadmill. On one level, they're inexplicable and unfathomable, yet on another it seems that the secrets to living life may actually be hidden in the nuances and images of our subconscious. But who can tell for sure?

Well, in the speculative world of Paprika, anime director Satoshi Kon's latest animated opus, dreams have finally been laid wide open thanks to a device known as the DC Mini. Created by the massively overweight and child-like genius Dr. Kosaku Tokita, the DCM allows one to see, enter and even interact with the dreams of patients, potentially opening the door to finding cures for various mental illnesses. At the forefront of this research is the beautiful yet seemingly cold and driven Dr. Atsuko Chiba (voiced by anime seiyuu icon Megumi Hayashibara), through her secret alter-ego; an adventurous, fun-loving red-headed teenaged dreamwalker named Paprika.

But when several samples of the DCM are stolen, the dark side of dream interaction is revealed as an unknown party begins tampering with dreams, sending people into a spiralling path of madness and even death. To protect their work and the waking world, Atsuko, Paprika and their colleagues fight to discover the villain behind this growing nightmare.
Fans of Satoshi Kon's work will feel right at home with Paprika- it contains much of what has come with his work before... beautiful female protagonists who are both tough yet vulnerable, gritty cops doggedly on the trail of their suspects, psychotic situations and dark humor and of course, wonderful animation and a complex story. Paprika certainly has tons of issues- such as the kinship between the internet and dreams, the morality of science and dream interaction and even the challenge posed on women in the modern/future workplace. Yet even with all that, it's also quite possible to just enjoy Paprika on a base level- it's a gorgeous work of animation with some seriously insane visuals.

The characters are a mix of the usual suspects and surprising cast choices- Atsuko is your beautiful yet cold heroine, counterbalanced by the bubbly and adventurous Paprika. Detective Konakawa, a hardened cop and patient of Paprika, seems to be the same gritty cop character often seen in Kon's other works. Then there's Dr. Shima, the usual wise, wizened old man often seen in anime in general. The most surprising new character is Dr. Kosaku Tokita- you don't usually see weight-challenged people as protagonists in anime aside from just for humor (Simpsons and The Family Guy come to mind when talking cartoon fat guys)- but Kon treats his overweight hero with as much dignity as he does the occasional fat joke. AND he gets the girl in the end.

Paprika isn't perfect- there are quite a few stretches of quiet and jargon that will probably bore those looking for instant gratification. Paprika for all her competence is as much damsel as heroine. But at the very least, with the wild imagery and animations on display, I can at least say that the film is a fair shot into showing the formless, ever-changing landscape of dreams- which is never an easy subject to tackle.
In terms of content, this is certainly not a kid's film- both because of the complexity of the subject and several instances of disturbing imagery and some nudity. Kids may enjoy some of the colorful animations and sequences, but the long talking sequences may get them drifting away into dreamland quite easily. For the anime enthusiast and fans of a great anime director's works, this is yet another dream come true.