Death and Taxis

I got up late today, and so in order to get to the office earlier (and to get there more comfortably) I rode a taxi. BIG mistake. Nay, let me rephrase... costly mistake. Thanks to the fricking traffic, the meter racked about a hundred pesos just getting me to EDSA. That's less than halfway. AAAARRRGHHH!!!
Well to lessen the injury I got off at Santolan near Camp Crame and decided to go the rest of the way on a far cheaper bus. I was late enough as it is... better to not be poorer than I needed to be. Before I got on my next ride I had a little light meal of some squid balls and gulaman... which unfortunately is nowhere near as delicious as my usual fare at the Farmer's Plaza MRT terminal. Oh well. Anyway, I have good stuff to show later tonight at Comic Quest, where I expect some blood to be spilled as the new comics will hopefully arrive (Eh, VIN?). Grey day like yesterday, minus biting rain. I like it. Heh.

Grey Day

It's a stormy, rainy, gray-cloaked Wednesday. I got up at 7AM and since there are things to do at the office I had to resist the urge to just cover up and sleep because it is STILL raining cats and dogs outside. Luckily I was able to hitch a ride with my sister to work, so I was spared the inconvenience of riding a full MRT or bus through pouring rain. On the way it was all the same; heavy rain and gusts of wind. On the radio, a very late announcement by Malacanang came informing all that government employees did not have work today on account of the storm- cold comfort to the thousands already in transit or at the office.
As for me and the throngs of privately-employed workers, work is dictated by load and by supervisor; basically for us, as long as you have something that demands your attention, unless the apocalypse is occuring outside your window... you have to work. Heh. Well, actually it's not that bad but just the same I envy government people. Oh well.
Hopefully after my obligations here I can slink away back home as soon as I can. Of course I will probably pass by Comic Quest later, if only to submit my pages for our group's little comic book project. Didn't see anything particularly inviting in the week's comics to shed blood for. Just want to go home and sleep... and get warm. Warm. That sounds good...

Coming Storm...

No, I'm not talking about the present conflargation in our atmosphere. I actually like the damp, cool air; the pitter-patter and steady swish of rain; the cloudy curtain of grey... I'm talking about the stuff at work I have to catch up on tomorrow. Work goes on despite the storm and the fact that the office sent the staff home early in the afternoon. Have to get in early tomorrow to finish some copy sheets and jobs that have to be presented tomorrow. Sigh.

The Return of the Cat 2 Resolved (I Smell A Rat!)

After bearing a night of dead air, I finally was able to inform my mom about the stink in the ceiling. Luckily we found someone who could go up into our roof and see what's stinking. It turned out to be a big, dead RAT. Funny that cats and rats smell pretty much the same, though fortunately for me this time around, it hadn't yet reached the charnal proportions of last year's feline fetidness. After the man took out the rat, he scrubbed the spot with cleanser. On my end, I opened the windows, had the fan on full blast and lighted several sticks and cones of incense. BEGONE, Foul spirits... BEGONE!!!
Next I'll have to have my sheets and pillowcases changed. And maybe take a bath later. I'm just glad it's over... for now...

The Return of the Cat (Or, Stink of Dead Cat 2)

No, I am NOT talking about the latest Miyazaki animated feature of the same name... though I wish I was. Longtime readers of SRM will probably remember The Stink of Dead Cat that once permeated my room from the ceiling. To refresh all our memories, last year, a big old cat crawled inside my house's roof and just DIED near my room. The result? After a while the STUPID cat's body began to rot, and the smell slithered down into my sanctum. GAAAAHHH!!!
Well, that telltale stink is back. This happened after a few nights of scuffling sounds from the ceiling. Without a doubt the noise was made by cats; now WHY is there a stink again? Did some old cat crawl up and die there again? Why the HELL are these stupid beasts making my ceiling a graveyard??? It's insane! Are they drawn by the smell of that first dead cat? Is there something I don't know? Is my ceiling an ancient cat tribe's burial ground? BAH!
Now I have to convince my mom (who has no sense of smell) to get someone to climb up and remove the fricking corpse. And hopefully bar up the entrance. Damn, there it is again. GOD that reeks. Tomorrow can't come soon enough...

DVD Picks

There are a couple of cool DVDs I want to pick up soon. One is The Animatrix, the compilation of anime short films based on the universe of The Matrix movies. There will be about 9 episodes at 10 or so minutes each, ranging from the Noir-ish Detective Story to the samurai swordfighting Program to the CG eye candy-rich Matrix Reloaded prequel, Final Flight of the Osiris. Special features on the DVD include commentaries, a 'Making of' feature and a History of Anime documentary.
The other disc I am intrigued in is Double Vision, a HK film starring HK actor Tony Leung and US character actor David Morse (who came out in films like The Green Mile and The Rock). Leung plays a burned-out detective who is investigating a series of baffling (supernaturally-laced) deaths; Morse plays the FBI profiler brought in to assist the investigation. Their probing soon puts them in collision course with a fanatical cult worshipping immortality and... demons. Can you say, creepy? Anyway, Double Vision was one of the films hyped on AXN (like So Close, Hero and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon) and I really want to see it.

Soon, very soon. The Animatrix should be available in June, while Double Vision should be on racks in a few days. Swell!

DeliveRAGE.

I am a veteran at having food delivered. I have to be, or I'd probably starve to death since I hate cooking and get these heavy cravings sometimes. The best food for takeout is pizza, IMO, though sometimes you want something else for variety. Well, recently on Sundays my mom would just order food since she's not in the mood to cook. Recently we've been trying the new delivery services of Jollibee and McDonald's near Katipunan.
Well, I have to say they SUCK.
Jollibee has the annoying penchant for taping the styrofoam packages so tightly and clumsily, you will need to have a cutter handy if you want to eat anytime soon after getting your food. Plus, you'll have to get used to the taste of scotch tape glue with your chow. AARGH!!! And I have to say that these restaurants seem to employ their most incompetent people on the phones. Jollibee Katipunan has consistently gotten orders wrong, with some items missing and undelivered. Often, we just shrug that off, but last night's order from McDonald's Katipunan really got me MAD.
My mom gave the order on the phone, and even repeated the order twice. We waited, and when the delivery finally came, we were missing one sandwich. MY SANDWICH.
Well, we called back and the fricking manager had the gall to say that we had to order the minimum order of 150 pesos if they were going to send another rider to our house. THEY WERE AT FAULT BECAUSE THEIR MORON OF A PHONE OPERATOR DIDN'T TAKE OUR ORDER CORRECTLY!!! AAAARRRGHH!

Now here is the worst part; my mom asked them to reconsider. The manager replied that they would 'call back' if they decided they could send a rider. No call came back for at least ten minutes.

I was steaming angry. I was hungry. An EVIL combination. I went on the phone and gave the degenerates my piece of mind. SO WHETHER I EAT OR GO HUNGRY IS DICTATED BY SOME SCHMUCK AT A FAST FOOD JOINT? DAMN!!!!

Well, whether it was for my threatening rant to report their ludicrous service or a matter of course, they eventually sent a rider with my sandwich, and I finally had my meal (after checking the sandwich for any foreign material, of course). Well, that was the first and LAST time we order from that crappy McDonald's branch at Katipunan. Until I find out they FIRE those IDIOTS from the staff. WIPE THEM OUT. ALL OF THEM. BAAAAHHHH!!!

We should have just ordered pizza. Pizza is nice.

Perfection is...

... a Dencio's feast of hot, crunchy and savoury sisig, wonderfully hot and sour sinigang na baboy, sinful crispy pata and enough garlic rice to accompany it all down to your palates in a satisfying melange. This the gang experienced at The Fort over the weekend thanks to our friend, Dino, who celebrated his Nth birthday. Thanks, Dino!

Staked through the Art


Nice character art, not-so-nice game.

I picked up a copy of Stake for the Xbox yesterday. The game is by Taiwanese company Gameness and Metro 3D, and looks on the surface like a Power Stone-type fighter; four players (human and/or CPU) are thrown into a multi-area arena loaded with traps, bombs and special items and the one to score the most kills wins at the end of a time limit wins. The storyline is pretty simple; The Stake Tournament invites the craziest fighters to battle their way for a cash reward. The character lineup has your staples; good-looking buff male fighters, a tomboyish buff female fighter, a conservatively-dressed female cutie, a half-naked hot babe, an old man, a hulking brute and a knight.
However, aside from having the same gameplay mechanics and several similar character designs, Stake is about as similar to Power Stone as Homo Habilis is to Homo Sapiens.
The graphics are clean, with nice hi-res characters and large stages with good detail and multiple levels. However, even with real-time lighting and nice shadow effects, the game hardly uses the Xbox's power to any great effect. If the characters looked half as good as DOA3, this game would work on looks alone, but as it is I've seen better Dreamcast games. Animation is limited, though kinda smooth; specials lack the flash you'd expect and are limited.
Sounds are horribly weak; limited and repetitive voices, droning music. Muting the TV helps though.
As for gameplay... ARGH. Attacking someone is a losing proposition, since it's pretty pointless to chase enemies (they move too fast). If you wait for them, they usually get the drop on you. For some reason, I can hit an enemy ten times and they hit me once, I die. EH? Combos seem to be non-existent, and moves extremely limited. The arenas are too big, and it is entirely possible for CPU characters to just get lost and stranded in one part of the arena. There are only two modes of play (single and multiplayer) and a USELESS Watch mode. Split screen play during multiplayer makes the view smaller, which is crappy. The camera is ludicrously limited; you can zoom in or out and elevate or lower the view, but you can't rotate around your character, which is WEIRD and makes gameplay even more frustrating.
I played this game and I couldn't progress at all. Can't tell if there are any bonuses or unlockables. The only good things in this game are the character art, which has a nice Capcom anime-ish style, the sexy gypsy/fortune teller Barty Beart (and her revealing alternate costumes) and the clean but unspectacular graphics. Everything else pretty much... SUCKS.

Keep away from this one if you value gameplay. Let me rephrase; If you want your game playable, keep away. This game is a big miSTAKE. Heh-heh.

Anime: Kiddy Grade


GOTT agent Eclair is cute, lively, sexy and awesomely powerful.

Despite the weird name, this new series from Gonzo Animation (Blue Submarine No. 6, Vandread, Hellsing) is not about kids or adventures in grade school. It is a futuristic action/drama series akin in many ways to the classic Dirty Pair, in that it's main characters are two lovely young (or at least young-looking) cybord babes working for a galactic peace organization. Taking the helm in the series are Eclair and Lumiere (how cute!), two agents of GOTT, or the Galactic Organization for Trade and Tariffs. GOTT is basically the 'good guys', doing everything from settling peace treaties to escorting VIPs from planet to planet.
Eclair is a sexy cyborg who apparently has been re-set (meaning rebuilt since she's been killed in action several times before) so many times that she acts like a young girl (despite having a very mature physique). Despite this, she's probably one of the most powerful members of GOTT's ES Section (a special powers division), given superior fighting skills and powers. Lumiere on the other hand is a silver-gray haired little girl who has the ability to hack into any system at will, for a multitude of effects.
As GOTT agents, Lumiere and Eclair basically head into dangerous missions independently, letting their super powers and GOTT's superior technology and resources do the talking. Along with the slick action and mecha, there's tons of cute girl images and quite a bit of fan service to spice things up. And of course, since it IS a Gonzo work, it resembles past series like Vandread and Samurai Girl in art style.
Though it looks cute and light with the bright colors and child-like characters, Kiddy Grade is apparently a very serious series, and it gets pretty dark as the series moves along. I am quite intrigued at this, given an intriguing article in the latest Newtype. Have to see what the fuss is all about. Anyway, as the latest Gonzo anime, I think I will enjoy this one. Recommended to mecha fans and enthusiasts of cute girls along with big guns, big mecha, fast starships and lots of hi-quality animation.

INCONCEIVABLE!!! Part Deux

I've already ranted about the DAMNABLE Dungeons and Dragons movie. Well, it seems that a great evil still lives within that thing since a SECOND movie in that series is being planned. GAH! The movie is apparently being dragged forward by Courtney Solomon, the same guy who made the first (it failed miserably due to horrible acting, a moronic script and bad production values) who coincidentally hasn't made another film since that one (resting on our laurels, aren't we?). Somehow, he managed to get producer Joel Silver to put this evil plot back in motion. Perhaps he used a Charm Person spell?
Anyway, no word if any of the incompetent cast and characters from the original are returning. I say, burn ALL the ties to the original and get a decent script from any of the hundreds of great novels, worlds, heroes and legends from the D&D franchise. Or at LEAST get something from a good game module. Anything is better than the troll crap goblin vomit orc shit that was the original D&D film. I have seen stains on toilet paper that made more sense than the script of that hellish first movie. BAAAHHH!!!!!

Haah. Rant over. Moving on.

Too much Spaghetti.

Yesterday, I had a Spaghetti Bolognese dish for lunch at The Green Tomato in my office's cafeteria.

Last night, I had Spaghetti Bolognese at Salsa Rossa.

Today, I just had lunch at home. It was mom's spaghetti with meat sauce. In other words, Spaghetti Bolognese.

Yesss....

Gotta getah a-something else-ah before-ah I-ah start-ah feeling I gotta join-ah the Mafia.

Missing Anime

I haven't been able to devote enough time to anime lately. The past couple of weeks have seen me go to Greenhills and walk away with nary a single VCD or DVD of any new stuff. The last series I was able to watch a bit was the girlyboy action comedy Getbackers, which stars a couple of super-powered pretty-boy repo men and their many equally super-powered rivals and allies. I was able to catch a couple of the closing episodes of Groove Adventure Rave on AXN, but unfortunately I think I missed seeing the final episode (thus I may be forced to buy the VCDs to see what happened at the end).

The sad part is, I've got a ton of anime just waiting for my attention back in the Sanctum. Got to give it time. But given that I have so many art and comic requirements, I won't be able to do that very soon. It just simply won't do to draw AND watch subtitled anime. It's impossible.

Oh well. Then again, maybe I am just waiting for that next Big Thing in anime. Or the next Inu Yasha DVD collection. Whatever.

Animated Angels 2

The second episode of the Charlie's Angels 'prequel' online cartoon is now available for download. As before, the animation isn't groundbreaking (apparently all the great anime artists and producers went with the Wachowskis) but I have to admit, there's lots of action and the leggy heroines have a penchant for sexy fetish outfits (a feature from the actual movie), so it's quite interesting to look at, at least. I am thinking that while Animated Angels won't see a DVD release like The Animatrix, the 6-part cartoon should be a nice, no-brainer extra for the Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle DVD later.
You can download the 2nd episode of Charlie's Angels: Animated Adventures here.

Inconceivable!!!

According to some sources on the web, there will be a live-action Evangelion feature in the near future! This project will be a collaboration of Gainax (the anime production house responsible for the original series), ADV Films (the US distributor) and, get this, Peter Jackson's WETA Workshop (which made a name for itself with a recent fantasy movie trilogy of some repute).

On another anime/game to movie tidbit, a SECOND Street Fighter movie is in the works, reportedly starring
Jean-Claude "I'm gonna keeck Bison's ahss" Van Damme and Dolph "You will lose" Lundgren. Another name identified with this sequel is Australian actress Holly Valance. No word yet if this new film will be in any way connected with the first live-action Streetfighter movie (which starred Van Damme and the late, great Raul Julia).

Anyway, no word on release dates for both projects. Evangelion is a critically-acclaimed anime about giant mecha called Evas and the pre-teen pilots that guide them into battle. It is as much about psychological drama, personal intrigue, X-files-esque conspiracies, generation gap conflicts and religious symbolisms as it is about giant robots battling alien monsters.
Streetfighter is based on the classic Capcom videogame series about an international cast of battling martial artists and the various evil plots they get involved in.

My Gosh. We'll keep everyone warned... I mean, posted... on any updates on these disturbing subjects...

Mummies and Matrices

What happened to the heavy-handed Matrix sequel is something that happens often in Hollywood movies. A relatively unambitious film which happens to strike a chord of excellence whether in theme or execution gets big returns or reviews. The resulting sequel becomes infused with a bigger budget, more ambitious plans and storylines that often involve epic proportions, more eye candy and fan service, and tons of hype. Such is the need for sequels to go beyond the tiny borders established by the earlier film. Unfortunately though, the flavor and elements that made the first so great are lost in the next film.

Remember The Mummy? It was a relatively quiet and understated film that started off as a remake of the old monster title. However, it took the original premise and gave it a shot in the arm. Not so much a horror movie, it was part scary movie, part pulp-action, part period film, part comedy. It had thrills and chills, a wonderful cast of characters, great special effects, rivetting action and an original take on the mummy story. It remains to this day one of my favorite films.
However, then came the sequel. Bigger budget, bigger cast, bigger story... which translates to tons of CG that looks like CG, heavy-handed large-scale battles, an Egyptian catfight with Japanese sai (EH? Okay, I enjoyed the skimpy outfits but SAI? EH?), an over-abundance of villain characters, a hokey airship and... The ROCK! The Mummy Returns was loud, corny and pretty crappy compared to the original. Though most of the blame I think goes to the WWE, which apparently bought the whole kit and caboodle as a star vehicle for Dwayne Johnson. And I won't even mention the awful 'third' part of the Mummy Triad (not a trilogy), which is horrid beyond words (despite having Kelly Hu... who gratifyingly was able to leap from that into X2).

Sigh. I still regard The Matrix as one of my fave films, despite Reloaded. I really hope that Revolutions somehow redeems the trilogy. This November I hope it's not another Scorpion King. AAARRGHH... mentioned it...

Recovery Period

Yesterday I didn't go to work since I spent pretty much all of Sunday and a good part of Monday morning working on an AVP (Audio Visual Presentation) for a client. The whole job was passed to me just last week; with little time to come up with a feasible but presentable concept, the necessity to accommodate an additional requirement in the same time, with no budget to speak of and having to deal with an inexperienced and barely adequate production house. Wonderful!
Of course this is on top of the fact that I was then forced to watch Matrix: Reloaded a third time, spend money to feed myself and infuse coffee into my veins. Grrr. Anyway, I got back my time by having a vacation of sorts, percolating at home and trying to ink pages and draw, play an odd session of Neverwinter Nights and watch anime.
Little pleasures, but with the madness that is imposed on you, they're vital to keeping your sanity. Ah.

Well, back to work.

X-Play!!!!!

YES!!! TechTV on my cable service is FINALLY going to show their new X-Play gaming show soon. No more endless replays of the now-defunct Extended Play. Thanks be... THANKS BE!!!!

Matrix Reloaded Top Tens (SPOILERS!)

Having watched Matrix: Reloaded a THIRD time since I was stuck in Greenbelt having to kill time while waiting for a work-related thing (ON A DAMN SUNDAY!!!!), I am now compelled (insert Smith impression here) to make a couple of Reloaded Top 10 lists...

Top Ten Coolest Things in Reloaded

1. The Freeway Chase. Big, loud, exciting, long and thrilling. Morpheus and Trinity get to shine as they race to keep the Keymaker from the hands of the Merovingian's evil Twin henchmen and Agents. Lots of cool fighting, car wrecks, jumps and leaps, motorcycles and guns aplenty.
2. The Twins. These dreadlocked albino nasties have the moves, the power to phase and the attitude to make them distinct in a movie full of generic thugs and evil programs. Coolest moment: When they say the line: "We are getting aggravated. Yes, we are." Heh.
3. The Merovingian. He's French. He's foppish. He's evil. He's funny! Yeah, I thought that whole dialogue with the Why's and the cake thing were all hi-faluting gobbledy-goo, but he leaves a good impression. He'll probably be coming back to stir up more trouble in revolutions...
4. The Burly Brawl. Yes, it was long and had a bad resolution, but it was fun seeing all those Smiths. Actually it made me think of some pretty funny things; Like it was kind of the 'Attack of the Dead Poets' Society'. I pictured a school bus full of Smiths driving in. All those Hugo Weavings scrambling into the area looked like kids in a playground. Heh-heh. Fun.
5. Neo's Flight Powers. I can't remember the last time I saw flying done this coolly, this nicely. It's so smooth and fast it makes the power of flight (which I believe is one of the coolest super powers you can have) really awesome.
6. Neo's new black costume. Damn he looks cool in those threads. Nothing like a bad-ass kung-fu priest to strike the Fear of The One into evil programs everywhere. Remember how Luke Skywalker looked uber-cool in his black outfit back in Return of the Jedi? Neo's outfit is many times cooler.
7. Zion Battlesuits. Wanna see those things kick Sentinel ass in Revolutions.
8. The New Agents. Upgraded baddies Thompson and company are a lot meaner and imposing than Jones and Brown in the first.
9. Persephone. It's Monica Bellucci. With no bra. Nuff said.
10. The Revolutions Trailer at the end of the credits. Worth the wait. Cool as hell. Almost worth agonizing through the Rave again just to see it.

Top 10 WORST things about Reloaded.

1. The RAVE. Boring, long and seemingly out of place. This encompasses Morpheus' bad speech, imagery of The Flinststones and Fraggle Rock, Bob Marley clones and an uninteresting Neo-Trinity sex scene.
2. Trinity. WHY does Carrie-Ann Moss look so old in so many of her shots?! When a Trinity-spoof in a Heineken beer ad looks TEN times cooler than the actual character in Reloaded, something is very, very wrong. The Matrix's number one girl seems to have lost her edge, going from super-sleek to shiny but frumpy.
3. The Mansion Fight with the Merovingian's goons. At this point, I actually got tired of kung-fu fighting. And I love kung-fu fighting. Too long, generic and uninteresting opponents, too many jumping up and down and slow-mos.
4. The Burly Brawl ending. Pointless and unsatisfying.
5. The Zion Interlude. Too long, boring and reminded me of Episode One...
6. The Architect's Exposition. Hi-faluting jargon that is a poor climax after the wonderful Freeway chase.
7. The Kid- Almost as irritating as Jar Jar Binks. Almost...
8. A Heart-gripping ending. Okay, it had to happen, but did it had to have to be done so badly?
9. Too many Smith puns about his cloning powers.
10. The RAVE. Yes, It's that bad.

Heheheheheh....

Ninja Freakshow

I splurged and got a dvd of the Japanese movie Kunoichi Lady (Ninja Lady) at Greenhills yesterday. The film stars Yuko Minamura, who has also starred in a large number of other Japanese samurai/ninja fantasy films. It's about seven ninja women who seek revenge against an evil lord and his sorcerous minions. Aiding the women is the legendary swordsman, Jubei Yagyu.
The film features lots of bloody swordfights, hammy Japanese acting, pretty Japanese girls, quite a bit of nudity and dramatic death scenes and drama as only the Japanese can do. B-movie all the way... and not the kind of film I expected to see (when ninja girls start radiating magic out of their breasts, I can't take the film seriously). Haven't found a ninja girl film yet that isn't hentai (LA Blue Girl) or live-action sex-fantasy (THIS movie). I'm beginning to think the perfect ninja girl film doesn't exist (unless Capcom does an anime featuring Ibuki from Streetfighter or something). I'd hate to say I wasted my money on this, but I think I did. Sigh.